


How on Earth

by rubywings91



Category: Codename: Kids Next Door
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-09-12
Updated: 2017-05-22
Packaged: 2018-08-14 18:05:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 13
Words: 51,148
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8023762
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rubywings91/pseuds/rubywings91
Summary: Codename Kids Next Door, alternate universe.  This story starts near the end of Operation Zero.  What might have happened if the plan to launch the Moon Base at Grandfather had failed?  Numbuh Zero stated that there was no way on Earth that they could defeat him.  He better hope that he was wrong.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own Codename KND, Tom Warburton does

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own Codename: Kids Next Door, Tom Warburton does

 

**Operation Zero: How on Earth?**

**Chapter 1**

Numbuh One rushed to get a Birthday Suit on Numbuh Fives's head. He had already placed them on the others and activated the odd looking hats, although there were still parts of their bodies that remained in the grip of Grandfather's powers. They were already starting to stir. So was she. Too soon, it was too soon. He might not get it on in…

Just as the boy got the Birthday Suit situated on her head, the Senior Citizombie punched him. Before he could recover, she lifted him off his feet. He felt a tingle under his arms where she held him. He knew what was happening, she was using her powers, agifying him. But if that was the case then…

"Why isn't it spreading? You should be as old as me by now!" The red capped old lady stated angrily.

While she was temporarily caught off guard, Nunbuh One flipped the switch on the Birthday Suit, which was still in reach. The hat activated and the girl returned to her normal age, with the exception of the left side of her face. "I'll explain later," the bald brit assured her. He had a suspicion that it was the same reason his dad was able to hold off Grandfather at that very moment.

The girl now standing before him smiled and said, "Okay. Numbuh Five can wait until the mission's finished."

He turned to the others and stated, "okay guys, I have a plan, but I need your help and we're going to have to move fast." He had no idea how long his dad and Father would be able to hold out but he didn't imagine it could be very much longer.

"Sure," Numbuh Three said cheerfully, her old lady arms behind her back.

Numbuh Four punched his left fist into his right hand, both of which were still oversized for the rest of his own body, "lets show Father's dad how we deal with adults who mess with us."

"So, what's the plan?" Numbuh Two asked as he stood, towering over everyone else because the bottom half of his body hadn't changed back.

Nigel gestured to the manual controls for the Moon Base and his friends rushed over. He moved to take his position.

"Numbuh One, so nice of you to come," a voice called.

All five children turned to face the stairs. At the top stood roughly twenty Citizombies, at the forefront stood Numbuhs Sixty, Eighty Six and Three Sixty Two, the last being the source of the voice.

"Already causing problems for the adults, I see. We were always able to count on you for that." She glanced at the others, then back at him. "Agify them and destroy those suits," she ordered the citizombies at her command.

"With pleasure,"Numbuh Eighty Six stated as the elderly group started their rush down the steps.

Numbuh One knew they were outnumbered but still felt terrible about abandoning the plan. He cast one last glance at the moon base launch controls before shouting, "Escape pods! Now!" The team made a mad dash for the machines, of which only three of the original four remained. The other one was probably just now returning to earth atmosphere with its "delightful" cargo.

Numbuh One allowed the others to pile in before him but as he jumped for it, he felt a pair of hands grabbed his foot and pull him back. He instinctively grabbed the edges of the shuttle door as the owner of the hands, Numbuh Eighty Six called out, "Oh, no you don't."

Numbuh One glanced at the rest of Sector V. He knew that they'd try to help but that if they didn't leave now, they'd be agified again. All of this and the resulting decision took only an instant to run through his mind. He gave his friends an apologetic smile and let go. As yells of horror and protest came from the cockpit, he kicked Numbuh Eighty Six in the chest with his free leg, something he didn't feel very bad about at all. The surprised Citizomby released him and he jumped for the lever that would launch the escape pod.

He heard his friends yell out in protest for a split second before the cockpit slammed shut and the machine was blast off into space, back toward Earth as he took his stand against the crowd of Citizombified, KND trained soldiers. He even managed to hold his own for several seconds before he was subdued.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> When I mention Numbuh One’s reference to Father helping Zero, I would like to make it clear that it was not an alteration of what happened in the movie. I just assumed that Numbah One was unaware of what had actually happened at the time. When he left with Sector Z, headed for the KND Moon Base, it seemed like Numbuh Zero and Father would team up In order to distract Grandfather. Although the audience watching the episode is aware that Father gave up and returned to his house, the children on the moon base would have no way to know what had happened at that time.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Grandfather takes the Book of KND from Monty. All of Sector V except Nigel make it back to Earth and go back to their base to plan what to do next.

 

**How On Earth?**

**Chapter 2**

Numbuh Zero hit the ground hard. He looked back at his dad, who was currently celebrating his victory. Then he glanced up the moon, feeling fear creep into the forefront of his mind as he saw that the KND Moon Base still remained rooted to Earth's natural satellite. _What happened, Nigel?_

_Riiiip_. Monty looked back to see that Grandfather had torn a page out of the book. He dropped it and reached for the KND's greatest symbol again. The sight made the man sick to his stomach as a sense of hopelessness washed over him. _What now?_ He had no more ideas. Something had gone wrong on the moon base and Nigel was beyond his reach. His wife was probably a Citizombie by now. And now the book of KND…

Suddenly, before Grandfather could tear out another page, the one that he had allowed to drop zipped back up through the air and into the book.

"What the…?" Grandfather exclaimed, his expression momentarily mirroring Monty's own feelings of confusion before growling and shredding the book in a swipe, only to have it reform in his hands. The old man, now becoming quite angry, growled in frustration and shot flames from his eyes. The book was momentarily set ablaze but the flames quickly fizzled out, leaving the ancient text apparently unharmed.

Well, maybe there's still some hope after all, Numbuh Zero thought as he watched the senior throw the book to the ground in fury. Then he suddenly realized he needed to get out of sight before his pappy remembered him. He saw that he had landed near one of the secret tunnel entrances to the room where the book had been stored. Actually, it was the very tunnel he'd tucked the Recommissioning Module into after Nigel left. Not that it would be much use, now that he had taken it apart. But how would he get in without Grandfather or his Citizombie army noticing?

Almost as if in response to his thoughts, something flew out of the sky and crashed down the street in the opposite direction of where he was. As everyone else watched the object descend, he rushed over to the spot in the grass and lifted the trap door.

He hoped that Nigel wasn't over there. The last thing he wanted was for the boy to fall into his pappy's hands. He had a feeling the old man would have no qualms in using Nigel to hurt him. He might turn the boy into a Citizombie or even… No! Surely he wouldn't do that.

He pulled the trap door shut above him and ran down the dark corridor.

* * *

Meanwhile, Grandfather hovered in the air as he looked at the crashed object in fascination. It was a silver thing, obviously some new age metal contraption. As he watched, it opened to reveal a group of well-dressed children. "Why are there still brats about?" He glanced at the villains behind him and yelled, "I thought you said everyone else was dealt with!"

"We didn't know," Mr. Boss stated in self-defense as the other villains flinched back and cowered.

"Well, I'll deal with it," Grandfather stated and started toward the children, whom were looking up at him fearfully as they huddled together. He needed something to distract him from the disappointment of failing to destroy the book anyway.

"Wait, Pappy! They're mine," a voice called out.

Grandfather rolled his eyes, although no one could tell because of their glow. Then he looked toward the delightful mansion to see Benedict with his head out the nearest window. His youngest son was wearing a canary yellow gown with pink trimming over his silhouetted form. The suit itself so dark it had to be store bought, rather than his natural one. There was also container of rocky road ice-cream in his hands. The sight was infuriating. For goodness sake, could he possibly be any more embarrassing.

Grandfather growled in frustration and looked at the youngsters again. Clearly, they were children he'd taken under his wing after messing them up too much to do anything else with them, rather than blood. For a moment, the old man considered agifying them anyway but then remembered the younger man's most recent fit of rage. Attacking those kids, if they could be called that, may be the fastest way to make him a bigger problem than Monty…Monty! How could he have forgotten?

"Fine, I'll leave your 'children' be. Just keep them out of my way, Ben," he called out before turning away and looking at the house next door. Meanwhile the children fled toward Father's mansion as fast as they could while still moving as one large group, hoping to get as far away from the older being as possible.

Grandfather was again caught off guard as he looked at the building with its tree sprouting out of the center, at the top of which was a KND base… but he'd used his powers change all the bases into tapioca factories that crushed the trees supporting them. How could this one still be standing? No matter, that's probably where Monty was hiding. Grandfather focused his energy on the building, willing it to become a factory but, to his utter surprise, instead of changing into a wonderful tapioca production center, nothing happened.

Fine then, he'd tear that plant apart to find his son if he had to. It would be a good way to vent his anger at this whole situation anyway.

He slowly floated over to the tree but stopped as a thought struck him. Would it really be to his benefit to go after Monty now or should he wait. The book had yet to be destroyed and it would be much more effective in ending his son's rebellion if he could drop the manuscript's ashes in at his feet.

There was also something else. Monty wasn't stupid, Grandfather knew this well. He wouldn't have been so openly defiant unless it was part of some bigger plan but what? Then the old man remembered Monty mentioning his own son. If he hadn't been so focused on agifying Montgomery, he might have realized that the man was blatantly admitting to being up to something and that his child was involved.

Hmm, time certainly has flown, the old man realized. There was a now child somewhere out there for which the name Grandfather was more than just a villainous title. Had he really been so far out of the loop that he had missed out on actually becoming a grandparent? When Monty used that device on him years ago, it hadn't just erased his old memories; it had also made it so that newer ones got sort of scrambled together. Until today, all his memories had been a jumbled mess, random and out of order, both in importance and through time. They were only just starting to organize themselves correctly within his mind. But, even with all of these issues, surely he'd remember something like that.

Did his son simply decide not to tell him? No, that wasn't it. In fact, dredging up one of these mixed up memories, he recalled Monty talking to him over the phone a few years back about his boy having to be rushed to the hospital, something about his head. It must have been serious for him to have been so stressed.

Well, whatever it was, the boy must have pulled through if he was helping with whatever his own pappy had been planning. And the boy in question most certainly would still be a child, whether their plan succeeded or not. No normal Citizombie was strong enough to overpower any of his direct descendants, only he could do that.

Perhaps if he wanted to get Monty back in line, the key would be finding the boy. Yes, he thought as a smile came back to his face, he had no doubt that Monty would value his own child over the diary of a bunch of snot nosed brats, most of which had probably grown old and died long before he was even born.

It would also be a much better approach than using his powers on his eldest son. He'd prefer to have Monty's obedience without altering his personality, even if by the small amount that agifying him would have done. Sure, he'd mope for a while but he'd get over it eventually.

Grandfather wondered how old his grandchild was. If he was the right age, the old man had something in mind for the continuation of the family's evil legacy. All he'd really be doing is giving the boy his birth right, anyway. Monty certainly wouldn't see it that way, though.

"Don't you think I'm finished with you, Montgomery Uno!" He called out, causing the ground to shake as he did so.

He turned back to his elderly audience. "Back to the convention center, all of you!" Then he floated over, grabbed up the book and launched himself into the air. He still planned to destroy it. He wanted to do this now more than ever before, since the blasted thing was proving to be resistant to his powers.

He glanced at the crowd heading back up the hill. It would take them some time to to get back to the convention center; he could fly around the city a couple of times and clear his head while he waited.

* * *

As the monstrous being flew off into the sky, a second pod fell from the heavens and crashed into the ground just beneath the only known KND Tree House on the planet that had withstood the effects Grandfathers powers.

Four children who still partially Citizombified, crawled out. The kids moved toward the back of the house, jumping the Uno family's fence. They proceeded to a small ladder that was draped over a strip of the tree's trunk that protruded from back of the house, it's roots spread across the back yard. The back yard where Numbuh One had spent his childhood before joining the Kids Next Door and all but moving into the building suspended in the tree's branches.

"Come on guys," Numbuh Five said, "let's get up into the tree house and get this gear working properly. There's no telling how long the batteries will last and Numbuh Five doesn't feel like turning into an ugly old lady again for a good fifty years."

"What's the point," Numbah four said, depressed. "Without Numbah One, we're doomed for sure."

Numbuh Three looked at her friend angrily, "How can you say that, Numbuh Four. Numbuh One just sacrificed himself to save us."

"She's right," Numbuh Two stated "and Numbuh One certainly wouldn't want us to just give up. For his sake, as well as for the rest of the world."

Suddenly, they heard a rustling noise coming from an open window in the Uno's kitchen, followed by a thump and a familiar voice exclaiming, "I remember that exit being bigger." Then, Montgomery Uno's head popped into sight to reveal that he was still his proper age. When he looked out the window to see the children who were now watching him, he stopped stared in amazement.

"Hi Nigel's Dad," the kids called out and waved, Numbuhs Three's and Four's old hands and arms looking far too oversized for their young bodies that were shielded by the glowing red of their birthday suits.

A smile suddenly sprung across the man's face as he momentarily disappeared from view before he opened the back door. He had the recommissioning module in his hand. It was about when he stepped out when the children noticed that, although he wasn't agified, there was definitely something different about him.

"Where's Nigel," he asked in a worried tone as he came out.

"Not here," Numbuh Five stated, looking suspiciously at the boy's dad. "Say, what are you doing with one of our toys?"

He looked at the moon, "is he still up there?" He asked, sadly.

"Yeah, but how did you know where he went?" Numbuh Four asked, voicing the suspicion that the other three were now feeling.

The middle aged man looked down at the device in his hands before saying, "because I was the one who came up with the plan of launching the Moon Base at Pappy."

For a moment the kids looked at him in a confused manner. He was about to try explaining when something clicked for Numbuh Five. "That's why I couldn't agify Numbuh One."

The others looked at her, as she continued, "He's related to Grandfather, and that would make you...Numbuh Zero!"

The man nodded, "Some DNA tracking device lead Nigel to me, he reactivated my memories using my old recommissioning module."

"Wait a minute," Numbuh Two said, "are you saying that the boy who took on Grandfather, the seventh founder of the Kids Next door and Numbuh Ones ultimate idol…"

"…is you?" Numbuh Four finished.

"His ultimate idol… really?" The middle aged man felt a smile come to his face for a short moment, despite the situation.

Suddenly, the kids broke out into rambunctious conversation all at once but stopped as Numbuh Three's suit shot out a spark. Numbuh Two looked at her and then toward everyone else. The birthday suits had been thrown together in a couple minutes, it was actually a wonder that they worked at all, let alone that they had lasted all this time. "We need to get to the base now, guys. Our suits aren't going to last much longer without proper adjustments. And with access to my equipment, I'd be able to complete the protection and free us of this," he said, gesturing to his oversized, over aged bottom half.

Having said this, he went over to the ladder and began to ascend, the joints his lower back and his legs, still those of an old man, screamed in protest. The other kids followed suit and finally, Nigel's dad climbed up the rope ladder, situating the device he held carefully as he did, so. Numbuh Two offered him a hand as he reached the small platform at the bottom of the stairs to the tree house.

As he moved closer to the trunk of the tree, he said "Why thank you Ho… **OW**!"

His statement had been cut short due to a kick in the shin and Numbuh Two looked at him apologetically before saying, "Sorry, my bottom half's still evil."

After climbing the stairs for a few minutes, Numbuh Zero commented, "by the way, what are you using for a backup power grid?"

"Backup power grid?" Numbuh Two asked in confusion.

"Yeah," he said, starting to sound winded, exhausted from his fight with Grandfather and the climb up the ladder and steps. He pointed up to the base: "I can see a few lights from here."

At this statement all the kids looked up.

Seeing that the man was right, Numbuh Two picked up the pace, his joints feeling somewhat better now that he'd been moving for a few minutes. He rushed to the next platform, signaling for Numbuh Five to follow him. There, he pressed a button next to the door in the side of the tree. This caused it to slide open, revealing an elevator. The pair looked at each other nervously.

"What do you think, Einstein?" Numbuh Five asked.

Numbuh Two shook his head, "I'm not sure but I know one way to find out." Then he called out, "Come on guys, we've got a working elevator here."

The other two children put on a burst of energy and rushed up the stairs but Numbuh Zero barely sped up at all. "I'm not used to climbing ladder and ten flights of stairs immediately after tussling with my dad," he stated as he finally reached the platform.

They all squeezed into the elevator, which was a tighter fit than usual with an adult among them. Then the door closed and they began to ascend. All of them moved their jaws or yawned to keep their ears equalized with the pressure change.

This was a set of habits that developed among KND members in response to the major changes in altitude whenever they moved between levels of their tree houses quickly. It reminded Numbuh Five of another "crazy" belief Numbuh one had that, even after decommissioning, ex-operatives still remembered their time in the KND on the subconscious level. One of the things he used to support the argument was the fact that even after teens left, this habit often still persisted amongst them.

Then the elevator stopped, bringing the girl out of her musings. It opened to reveal a trio of teenagers standing before them… or so it appeared.

"The Senior Citizen Squad," Numbuh Five Stated. "What are you doing here?"

"Hi, Grandma," Hoagie said as he waved to the girl leading the group.

"What?" Monty asked, becoming very confused, very quickly. The girl who was clearly the leader was young enough to be the boy's big sister. Why was he calling her Grandma?

"We're here to help save the world, of course." The girl said as her anti-aging cream wore off, making her recognizable as Lydia Gilligan. A couple moments later, the same thing happened to the other two teenagers. "Now, what took you so long to get here?"

"I was agified before I could use my gear. Numbuh One had to help me." He looked around and asked, "How'd you get the system working without hamsters?"

"I pulled out the schematics for your tapioca powered equipment. For now, the supply we brought along should sustain us, but we'll need to get some more soon. We were driving a shipment to the retirement home when this whole mess started and had to leave most of it to come here. We'll get it later. Grandfather's citizombies probably won't be looking for it, considering it wasn't made in their factories and therefore its existence is probably unknown."

Numbuh Zero looked at Numbuh Two and lifted an eyebrow as he said, "tapioca powered equipment?"

"Hey, so I accidently crashed a truckload of tapioca into the tree house. It could have happened to anyone. We needed to get rid of the stuff somehow and we didn't know about them, then," He stated, gesturing to the elderly trio.

"Well," Monty said, "it very well might be the best accident you could have made. I think the fact this building has held so much of the stuff might have fooled Grandfather's powers."

"Say what?" Numbuh Five asked in confusion.

"Tapioca has a heavy influence on Grandfathers powers. Because this tree house has held so much Tapioca at one time, it may be imbued with some protection, especially if you've got some of the stuff dried up in hidden corners of the tree house."

The kids cringed, recalling how despite all their attempts to clean it out, they did in fact keep finding the stuff caked to surfaces here and there, often with a dried nacho cheese as a layer underneath, a result of the hair eating lice incident. The stuff had become nearly impossible to remove, so, more often than not they left it, rather than mention their findings to the sector leader, who would order that the mess be scrubbed clean, even if they had to use chisels to succeed.

"Come on," the leader of the Senior Citizen squad said, distracting everyone, "let's get you completely back to your proper ages."

"Sounds great to Numbah Five."

"Yeah, my arms are really heavy." Numbuh Three stated.

"Mine, too," added Numbuh Four.

"Yeah, this being old thing is really getting old." Numbuh Two paused for a moment before saying, "getting old! Get it because…"

"Oh, Numbuh Five can believe this," the girl exclaimed as she slapped the back of the boys head with her hat a few times.

As the kids talked, the elderly woman pulled out a small cylindrical container.

"What is that?" Numbuh Two asked when Numbuh five finished getting on to him.

"This is anti-aging cream. You'd be amazed at the number of confused Citizombies we fought on the way over here. If we managed to pin them down long enough, we actually used this on them." She threw it to Hoagie, who caught it and opened it. "Don't use too much now, I had to deal with you while you were in your terrible two's once. I don't want to relive the experience for even a moment. Besides, we only have so much of it."

"Did you bring the people you helped here, too?" Numbuh Five inquired as she watched Numbuh Two dab a little bit on his cheeks, reverting to the age of six or seven as the last traces of the Citizombification disappeared.

"Yes and some others showed up here, too. They took advantage of the show going on down the lane to sneak in. A couple girls are actually here from Gallahager elementary, bearing news and gifts from the resistance group there."

Everyone looked at the old woman in amazement as she said this.

"And how many pockets of resistance do we know of, at this moment," Numbuh Zero asked.

"Currently, including us, three," the old woman stated, smiling at the shocked expression on the middle aged man's face. "Come now," she added, "surely you didn't inherit enough of Alexander's arrogance to actually believe that your family was the only group that could hold out against him."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There is no mention that I could find in the episodes about what Grandfather’s real name was. For some reason, I thought that the name Alexander Uno would be a good name for him.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Numbuh One is taken prisoner by the Citizombies and brought to the Convention Center

 

**How on Earth: Chapter 3**

Numbuh One tapped his fingers impatiently against the floor. At first, he had been horrified when the Citizombies had pinned him. Now, a couple minutes later, their weight bearing down on him but nothing more than a tingle where they were still trying to Citizombify him, it was getting… well, quite annoying, actually. He glanced up toward Numbuh Sixty and asked, "Could you please stop using your powers on me? It's really quite uncomfortable."

The old man glared at him with glowing yellow eyes and stated, "That wouldn't be the case if you'd have just turned into a Citizombie, already."

"Well, allow me to apologize for being so uncooperative," Numbuh One said sarcastically.

The drill sergeant looked like he was about to snap back at the child when Numbuh Eighty Six, who stood off too his lef,t rolled her eyes and stated, "Would you two SHUT UP! Boys! How is it that, no matter how old you are you all still manage to be just as annoying?"

"Well, the Citizombification hasn't done much to improve your attitude either, Number Eighty Six," Numbuh Sixty snapped at her. Numbuh One didn't fail to notice how he said Number, like the adults, rather than Numbuh, as the KND would say.

"Be quiet, all of you." A voice called out from near the broken control panel. Next to it, Nigel could hear the white noise that indicated that one of the screens had been turned on. He listened as the noise stopped and the agified Supreme Leaduh talked at another Citizombie through a screen.

"Status report."

"Sector V escaped, sir."

"What do you mean they escaped?"

"The pods were designed to outpace all other ships, sir," he heard the voice of the other soldier say nervously. "We couldn't keep up with it, even if our best ships were not damaged in today's earlier attacks, we might have had trouble catching them."

"Well, I want search parties organized and sent downstairs to find the remaining members of Sector V on the double! Am I clear?"

"Yes sir."

"Good. End transmission."

Nigel smiled as listened to the buzz of white noise that played momentarily before the screen cut out, happy to know his friends were safe, for the moment. Turning his head so he could see Numbuh Sixty, he shot the other a smug look; it had been his soldiers who were chasing Sector V. In return, he got a glare from the head of the Arctic Base and Training Facility, along with a slight increase in the sensation on his back, upgrading the feeling from tingle to itch.

The next sound he heard was that of shoes walking toward him. The pair of shoes, shaped to fit around not just the wearers feet but each of her toes as well, stepped into his view, and a boxer's mitt at the bottom of a pole came down next to them.

Nigel looked up to see Numbuh Three Sixty Two staring down at him, her Yield sign in hand. She gave an exasperated sigh. "Enough. We clearly can't agify him. Tie him up and I'll contact Grandfather to see what should be done with him."

He heard grumbles from a few people in the room as the tingling sensation stopped and his arms, which had been held to the ground, were pulled behind his back. Sixty was tying them as someone else worked binding on his feet before he was lifted up. Both sets of bindings were a little tighter than necessary.

He felt a twinge of fear at the thought of being at the mercy of Grandfather. He doubted that being a family member would work in his favor. In fact, it would probably make things worse for him. He didn't let anyone see how bothered he was by Rachel's statement, though.

"Number Eighty Six," the white haired woman called, staring at the space behind Nigel where he had seen the other standing earlier, "I want you to hunt for sector V, too. With operational anti-agifying technology, they are currently the greatest threat to Grandfathers rule. The destruction of that equipment, along with the recapture and reagification of those operatives, are to be considered your top priority. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes sir. Don't worry. We'll find them." Number Eighty-Six replied.

"Good, dismissed."

Nigel listened to Francine's footsteps as she walked up the stairs but continued to watch Rachel.

She turned her attention back to him, her yellow eyes looking deep into his dark blue ones. She looked at the man who held him. "Number Sixty, please remove Numbuh One's jet boots, then bring him to my private hanger."

"You're not just going to call grandfather?" The old man holding him asked in surprise.

"We need to deal with Nigel as soon as possible. The best way to do that is to hand him over to Grandfather." Then she looked back into the boys eyes. "He's far too dangerous as a loose end."

Nigel gulped as she turned away and walked up the steps. He tried to fight the Number Sixy as he was placed on the ground, so that his shoes could be removed. Unfortunately, other than forcing the ex-cadet trainer to take an extra couple minutes to separate him from his favorite footwear, he didn't really accomplish much of anything. When they came off, the wool socks that the boy had complained about earlier felt itchier than ever.

"Come on, Nigel," the Citizombie stated as he picked up the boy and threw him over his shoulder. "We can't leave Number Three Sixty Two waiting, now can we."

* * *

The time in Numbuh Three Sixty Two's private craft passed quickly and silently. The ship had two rooms; in the back of the ship was a larger room, which held their security detail, a group that consisted of four operatives. The other, smaller room was the cockpit. Rachel had insisted that she be allowed to fly the plane and that the prisoner be placed up front with her. She didn't say a word to him, nor did he to her as they traveled through space, into the atmosphere and toward the Convention Center but as they moved into a large parking spot, she finally broke the silence. "Your Grandfather's grandson, aren't you Nigel?"

"What makes you think that?" The boy asked.

"You can resist the Citizombification. It's the only explanation I could think of."

He turned toward the old woman and stared at her. It was amazing how much of everyone's personality seemed to remain intact, even after their free will was stolen from them. It was downright scary, too. "You know, I would have scoffed at the idea if it had been suggested a little over an hour ago, while I was holding the DNA tracker." Nigel felt a sad smile cross his face as he looked down at his socks. "Yes, I'm his grandson."

Nigel heard Rachel chuckle before the elderly woman next to him stated, "I guess you were right about the whole thing with Numbuh Zero, huh."

Nigel sighed heavily but didn't look up. It was too depressing.

"Nigel."

"Hmmm."

"I'm going to untie your legs,"

At this statement the boy looked at her, confused. "Why?"

"Because, as Grandfathers family, you need to make a somewhat dignified entrance, or it will reflect badly on him. You can't do that if I'm carrying you over my shoulder like a sack of flour." Her face was serious as she said this. "Besides, he should get a proper first impression of you anyway. Goodness knows that anyone who underestimates you will pay for it, even someone as powerful as him."

He didn't try anything as she loosened the coils around his ankles. Even if he did manage to defeat her, there were the people in the back main section of the ship, and his hands were still bound. He mulled over what she had said. Although this wouldn't be the first time he was in the same room as Grandfather, it would be the first time that the old man really noticed him.

Grandfather was actually his grandfather, who'd have thought it? Certainly not him. Father had done an excellent job of hiding their familial ties. To think his own uncle had not only allowed his adoptive cousins make him bald and attempt to kill him but also personally tried to roast him, rob him of his childhood, turn him into and animal for the rest of his life, use him as a cake ingredient and possibly almost claimed him as a trophy during the villains awards night. Well, if anyone needed proof that family is about more than blood…

As he thought about this, through the window he saw a very large dark shape fly down from the sky toward the large building that a crowd of agified villains were now entering. Grandfather had arrived. The sight terrified the child and a question popped into his head. Would he find his dad in there? It seemed all too likely.

Nigel tried to push the oppressive thoughts from his mind. He had to stand tall. This wasn't an argument over some ice-cream party. He was the only one here who stood for freedom, not just of children but everyone. Not only would he represent people's freedom to do what they wanted but also their right to be their proper age. He had to be strong for everyone who had fallen and the few people like him who still remained.

He felt the ropes fall away from his feet as Rachel rose from her position. "Are you ready?"

"As ready as I'll ever be." Then he paused before saying, "Well, actually, there is one more thing you could do."

"What?"

"Well," Nigel began, a little embarrassed about what he was going to ask, "these socks are really irritating me. Plus, there's no point in ruining them walking around in them. Since I don't have any shoes, could you please take them off, too?"

The boy could almost see Rachel rolling her eyes, despite their glow. "You have got to be kidding me. Of all the things you could worry about, you choose to focus on your socks!"

"They're really itchy," Numbuh One said in self-defense.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In Operation Caked Five, when Rachel ordered Sector V to report to Moon Base, Numbuh one referred the trip as going upstairs. That was the source of the idea for Rachel’s statement for sending operatives “downstairs” to deal with Sector V.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everyone hiding out in the KND Base prepare for an imminent attack from the Citizombies.

 

**How on Earth: Chapter 4**

After the kids had used the anti-aging cream, the members of the Senior Citizen Squad lead them to the living room, where there were indeed more people. The furniture had been pushed up against the walls, to make room for people to move around.

Sitting in Hoagies chair was Tommy, one of the two Citizombies that the SCS had manage to catch and put some of their anti-aging cream on. On the couch was the other, an unconscious Toilenator.

There was currently a group of kids on the floor transferring water from two half gallon jugs to spray bottles which previously held cleaner solutions or some other spray. One was a girl was Jessica, who had her stuffed rabbit Hopsy Mopsy next to her. One of the other kids was Numbuh 85, whose haircut was as bad as the rumors had hinted, if not a little worse. He had brought his little brother along. The fourth child helping was Laura Limpin, who was running back and forth, taking partially filled containers into the connected kitchen and filling them the rest of the way with water from the sink, no doubt to keep herself busy and therefore distracted from the situation. Working too fast, Jessica splashed herself and became noticeably younger, revealing the nature of the substance that they were working with.

Off to their right, there were four babies. One was Joey, with a dodge ball in hand. The other three were Jackson and a couple of his Ankle Biters, each of which had objects that looked like toys and pacifiers but were probably weapons of some type.

Finally, seated in Numbuh One's Chair was Lizzie Divine, with shopping bags placed on the ground beside her.

Darting back and forth around the room were between twenty to thirty hamsters, including Joaquin. A couple of them had been given sprayers which were probably laced with some of the fountain of youth water that the children were currently working with.

"So, is this everyone?" Monty asked.

"No. There's a whole army out on the front lawn. Didn't you see them?" Lydia Gilligan retorted sarcastically.

"There's no need to be mean, Grandma." Hoagie stated as he looked at the group that was now assembled in the sitting area in front of the television.

"So, what are we going to do now?" Numbuh Three asked.

"Well, we won't get anywhere just standing around, will we?" Numbuh Four stated, surprising everyone. "We need to see what still works around here and get ready for the fight that we all know is coming. These people here may have figured out how to get the power on but only we know how to run this place."

Numbuh Five looked at the short blonde boy. She recognized his stance as one she had seen once before and for a while, she had wondered if she would ever see this side of the Australian boy again. It had been perhaps their darkest hour before today. The tree house had been totaled, Numbuh One had been turned into an adult and the rest of the team had moved into a cardboard box for a base. It was Numbuh Four who had gotten them out of their rut and moved them to action. That was the Numbuh Four who was before them now.

She felt a wave relief for a pressure she wasn't even aware she was feeling. She hadn't wanted to take charge of their team and she had a suspicion that none of the others did either. Even if Numbuh Zero was a good leader in his day, he wasn't a kid anymore. To let him call the shots for them would undermine everything the KND stood for. Numbuh Four, when he was like this, might be able to do it.

"Numbuh Five'll go to the switch board and reroute the power to the defense grid," She said after looking at him for a few moments. "Then she'll try to get the security system up and running. It has a setting for emergencies where we might have had to allow adults in. Like what might have happened if we hadn't saved Kuki's house from exploding."

"And, I think I can calibrate some of our laser weapons to be useful against the agification process." Numbuh Two added. "Maybe we can rescue some of the other operatives as well as ourselves when the Citizombies strike.

Numbuh Four nodded, then asked, "Can somebody find out where we can place everyone for the upcoming fight?" He asked, gesturing to the people who were now staring at him in surprise. Everyone was astounded that the boy they had labeled the stupidest member of Sector V was taking control like this. Even the Toilenator had awakened at some point while the boy was talking.

"I'd be willing to do that," Numbuh Zero said, "if I can get some help from someone who's familiar with how modern bases work."

Numbuh 85 stood up and said "I can." Then he turned to Numbuh Four and said, "If you would allow me… sir."

Numbuh Four paused at the statement, the meaning of the word sinking in. Sir. He was leading Sector V, he thought. He smiled at the idea of finally leading his team.

No, he suddenly realized, he was leading the Kids Next Door. He almost lost control at the thought. He considered running into his room, blocking the door with his bed and setting up the robot he usually beat up in the training arena as a guard.

Then a voice behind him asked, "Should I get the medical stuff out?"

His mind flashed back to earlier that day, first to how Kuki had tricked him in the closet and then how they had acted while they were together by themselves after being Citizombified. He knew that a lot had been beyond their control while they were changed but he wondered, how much of her feelings were real? He knew one thing. No matter what happened they couldn't go back to what they had before, not exactly.

The two stared deep into each other's eyes until he heard someone clear their throat. He wasn't sure who it was, but it caused them to come back to reality. "Yeah, Numbuh Three, um that would be a good idea. You do that."

Then he looked around. "Well, why is everyone just standing around. I want everyone to get to work. We have a fight to get ready for and I don't think those cruddy Citizombies are going to give us time to get set up once they get here!

* * *

Hoagie's mind was at work before he was told to get moving, "I'd like to bring Tommy with me to help. Grandma, you're good with technology too, right?"

His grandmother looked at him and said, "yes but I can't go up with you right now."

"I wasn't going to ask you to. I was wondering if I drew out the schematics really quick and showed you some of our laser weapons, would you could modify some of the ones people can carry."

Under her breath, his grandmother stated, "This isn't what I went into retirement for." Then, louder, she said, "Fine. Draw it out and I'll see what Sheldon, Maurice and I can do here."

Hoagie quickly grabbed up a sheet and started drawing up what he had in mind. As his Grandma and his brother gathered around, he started explaining the schematics. After talking for a few minutes, the three came up with modifications to put the device together quicker. They could worry about durability later, when they weren't under immediate threat of attack.

Thinking about the soup gun that his dad had made for his mom and of what Betsy was capable of, Hoagie couldn't help feeling bad that he couldn't be part of this. Hoagie Gilligan Sr. would have loved this type of thing. The boy wondered if he would have been able to come up with other good ideas. He'd tried to find the schematics to the things he had made but he couldn't figure out where to look. The boy knew that they had to exist and had even found the occasional disjointed sketch and one word notes in his old office. They were the same type of notes that he would take down when he'd get design ideas in class, so that he'd have enough to be reminded of what he was thinking later but not so much as to give adults who might see them something to use. He shook his head. No point in thinking about that right now.

Satisfied with the design, Hoagie went to his room after spending a few minutes typing in passwords to deactivate his security system which had been blocking the entrance. He grabbed the supplies they would need and went back into the living room. After leaving some so that his Grandma could arm people, he nodded and the gestured to Tommy, "come on then. We've got work to do. There's no telling how long we have until the Citizombies show up."

The other boy smiled, happy to be able to do something with his older brother for once. The boys walked out of the room side by side.

"You really want me to help?" Tommy finally asked, excited.

"Well, yeah. We don't have much time to set this up and I knew once I showed you how to modify the weapons, you'd be able to work on your own."

"Yay! I'm going to get to design new KND guns with my big brother. This is going to be so much fun. I…"

"This isn't a game Tommy, this is serious. In case you didn't know, the person behind this is Father's dad."

These words seemed to remind the other boy of the seriousness of the situation. "His dad!?

"Yes!"

"Well, why didn't you say that sooner? We'd better get going."

As Hoagie led his little brother into the elevator, the younger boy asked, "So, Nigel's dad is obviously fighting Grandfather. I saw them in front of the Mansion down the Lane. How does he fit into this?"

Recalling that the other boy had not heard the tale of Numbuh Zero, Hoagie replied, "He's Grandfathers eldest son, who rebelled against him when he was younger and won."

Tommy stared at him silently before saying, "but doesn't that mean that Father is Numbuh One's uncle?"

Hoagie, who had been thinking of a million other things up until that moment, looked at his brother and said in a surprised tone, "I guess it does, doesn't it."

"That guy's really messed up!"

There was a ding as the elevator opened up, and the boys exited, heading toward the artillery, silently mulling over their new realization.

* * *

Numbuh Five was looking at the circuit board when she heard a couple of people moving behind her. She looked back to see Jessica and Laura standing there. "What are you two doing?" She asked as she went back to work.

"We finished working with the water and wanted to see if you needed help." Jessica said.

"Last time Numbuh Five checked, Numbuh Zero and Numbuh Eighty Five were taking care of finding out what you can do."

Laura spoke this time, "I will stay down here when the Citizombies come, if you haven't got the security system working. Jessica is here because everyone thinks I need someone to help keep me stay calm."

Hearing the angry undertone the second girl's voice, Abigail stopped working and looked at her. It wasn't smart to ignore Laura Limpin, even when she was in the best of moods. She now suspected that the girl had been sent to her to prevent an incident in the tree house, more than for her to play defense. She was currently her normal size but had a pimple on her nose, showing evidence that the Big Badolescent was ready to make an appearance.

"Laura…"

"I am so tired of everyone treating me like a time bomb. I've been learning to control it." As she said this, a few more pimples appeared. "If it was a year ago, I'd be rampaging through the streets, still freaking out over the thought of what's happened to my parents. I saw them coming over here from the school. I had to act like I was going to attack them." She was crying now.

Numbuh Five walked over to the first and second graders and said, "Numbuh Five had to fight her big sister after watching her get agified. She knows this is hard for you but you aren't alone."

The two girls looked at her, surprised by the genuine hurt they saw in the older girls face.

"But right now, everyone out there is depending on us to help them. That isn't gonna happen if we let our emotions get the better of us. Can your parents count on you for that Laura?"

Jessica took a step away from older girls, sensing that something major was about to happen.

Laura took a deep breath and a few of her pimples disappeared, although she was by no means all better. "Yes, they can."

"Good, then I'm going back to work on redirecting the power, but I ought to warn you, until I figure out the password, the security system is going to be downright obnoxious. It drives me nuts; I think it would be smart if you put on my headphones while I'm trying to get it to work.

"Fine with me," Laura said, hiding her emotions to the best of her abilities.

Then, as Numbuh Five went back to work, she asked, "So what's the story behind the fountain of youth water. Last I checked Leaky Leona was doing everything she could to keep it secret."

"That's why she's currently tied to a desk, getting the water she needs through a bendy straw." Jessica stated as Laura snickered. "That selfish jerk was going to leave us all to get agified while she hid in her private underground school. Well, it's not so private anymore."

The operative shook her head in disappointment as she chose switches to turn on or off. "She never was too fond of sharing that stuff."

"I busted through a wall to get us in," Laura added. "After the old auditorium collapsed behind us, the Citizombies assumed we'd gotten ourselves killed and marked the area off as condemned. We have access to much of the school as well as exits off grounds. Apparently, other parts of the town have old underground sections.

Numbuh Five made a mental note of that last fact. Those underground tunnels could come in handy later.

* * *

A single shot rocked the building. It was obviously meant to be an attention grabber and it worked incredibly. Everyone looked toward the side of the building that the blast came from. A few people stated moving to look out the windows but Numbuh Zero said, "No, we don't want them to know how many people are here. We all need to take our positions to defend the base now."

Jackson stood up and said, "My team will take to the skies. We can outmaneuver any big kid vessel ever made. I'll Drop Joey off on the roof, with all the balls we have, so he can work his magic."

Numbuh Zero was uncomfortable with letting the babies go, to say the least but he didn't have time to argue.

From outside, an Irish voice amplified by a megaphone yelled "Sector V. You have one minute to surrender yourselves before we storm the building."

"Why is she using a megaphone when she has enough lung power to be just as loud without it?" Numbuh Three asked in a sarcastic tone.

"I suggest we go to weapons area now," Numbuh Zero stated.

Numbuh Four nodded and said, "It's only a couple floors from here." Some of us can make it before our minutes up."

"Then go, those who can't make the run can use the elevator. There should be few enough that you will fit in there."

* * *

Numbuh Five pressed the on button and the machine clicked to life. "Alright, now things get tough."

"What do you mean?" Jessica asked as Laura adjusted Numbuh Five's headphones on her head.

"Now Numbuh Five has to figure out Numbuh One's password for this thing." As if the control system had heard her, it ordered, in its obnoxious tone, "Input Access Code."

At the same time, the sound of Numbuh Eighty Six's voice came from outside, announcing that they had one minute to surrender. Yeah right.

Numbuh Five started typing combinations she suspected Numbuh one might use, causing the device to scream "Incorrect Code! Incorrect Code! Incorrect…" _Rip_.

So much for the headphones. Numbuh Five looked up from the screen, which was, amazingly, still functioning, to see the Big Badolescent crushing the metal jaws that been the source of the noise. The monstrous girl was now reducing it to a metal ball as she stated, "Me no like that noise."

Numbuh Five smiled and said, "Nobody does," as she stared at the girl, who seemed incredibly calm for having just taken her larger form.

Suddenly the building shook from a rocket blast as a couple of ships flew around into view of the window.

Jessica had run behind the couch when Laura's transformation started. Her head poked up from behind it as the larger girl stood, managing to remain somewhat in control of herself. Numbuh Five glanced at the furniture and then back at Laura as an idea began to take shape in her mind.

"Hey Laura, How good's your throwing arm?" Perhaps she could buy them a couple more minutes.

* * *

Half of the people in the base were aiming their guns toward the sky, shooting the airborne vehicles. The others were focused on the ground, trying to hit the decommissioning squads DOH-DOHs (Decommissioned Operative Hunter Drives On Hydrolics). Joeys Dodgeballs were bouncing off of both aerial and ground attack vehicles, often striking sensitive locations and doing damage.

Three of the weapons were firing lasers that reversed the Citizombification and the rest were firing weapons simply damaged oncoming ships. Numbuh Two, whom was using the strongest of the prior, had already liberated eight and Numbuh Four had freed another five. The ships that were freed were doing all they could, side by side with the Ankle Biters, to help defend the base from the army that assaulted it.

The third gun, under the use of Lydia Gilligan, who was now once again a teenager, was not as powerful and only partially freed the people on board the enemy ships long enough for them to hesitate. Which was longer than it took for her two teammates, Maurice and Sheldon to cripple their ships.

The others who manned regular defensive weapons were having varying degrees of success. Lizzie Divine, for instance, after hearing that her beloved had been captured by the monsters, was determined to take her vengeance upon as many Citizombies as possible. She had yet to miss a target. Numbuh Zero, whom hadn't used such a weapon in years was rusty and made only occasional hits. At the far end of the spectrum was the Toilenator, who was not used to combat of any sort and barely ever hit a mark.

Despite everyone's best efforts, it seemed that, for every ship taken out there were two to replace it. If Numbuh Five didn't get the automated security up soon, they were going to fall, Numbuh Two thought sadly. That was all there was to it. They couldn't keep this up forever.

Suddenly, a ship swerved around to the living room area and blasted a hole in the wall. Another one pulled up behind it, an agified COOLBUS (Carries Operatives Overhead Luxuriously Boasts Unbeatable Speed), no doubt filled with troops. So that was how it would end, Numbuh Two thought as he shot another ship, freeing it. They were going to take the defense system before it could be activated and then storm the building. Well, he wasn't going to be changed back without putting up a fight.

Then something shot out of the hole and crashed into the rather large shuttle. Everyone in the artillery room let out a cheer. It took Numbuh Two a moment to realize what the object was. Numbuh Four caught on at the same moment he did and screamed, "NO! Not the flat screen!"

The ship that had shot hole retook it's position and loosed a round of laser fire, only to be silenced as the couch slammed into it, sending it hurtling toward the ground.

After that, no more ships tried to take that room but it still didn't mean that they had won the day. Numbuh Two swapped to a different gun as one of the enemies blew out his Anti- aging Laser. The other two such guns were the biggest targets for enemy fire and while it did cause many more ships to become easy targets as they tried to take aim, it also meant that the guns wouldn't last much longer.

Just as Lydia's laser was hit, a rumbling sound echoed throughout the tree house.

"What's happening?" Lizzie asked. "Did they get us?"

Numbuh Three said, "No Silly, of course they didn't. Numbuh Five just got the security system working."

And then a sound echoed through the whole tree house, a recording of a familiar voice with an English accent stated "Security Systems Online, Activating Defense Grid."

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If some felt that Numbuh Four seemed out of character for taking charge, I’d like to point out that, on top of demonstrating a desire to lead in many episodes, there are a couple where he has also shown some actual leadership capabilities. My first example is Operation GROW-UP, when he motivates the team to get out of their box and do something. Then, in Operation FUTURE, it shows that, under the right circumstances, Numbuh Four could become devoted enough to such a position to lead a cause for over seventy years (he probably would have done it to his dying breath if the Boys Next Door hideout hadn’t been found. There has been a spattering of other, minor clues throughout later parts of the series, when the writers aren’t working so hard to portray him as an idiot.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Numbuh One meets Grandfather

**How on Earth: Chapter 5**

As Nigel walked forward, with Rachel and her security team only a few steps behind, he tried to compose himself. He stood straight and tall, although the barefooted boy's position as prisoner was obvious with the scuffs and bruises on his skin, his slightly skewed sunglasses, the crumpled clothes that covered his small form and the ropes binding his hands behind his back. He still managed to walk with a dignified, defiant air. He made sure he was a few steps ahead of his captors. His posture seemed to be a silent promise to all who watched that he wasn't ready to surrender yet.

The first to notice him were the final stragglers trying to get into the Convention Center. They paused and stared at him in surprise. He looked at some of them, already recognizing far too many for his comfort. It was only when he felt Rachel gently pushing him that he realized he had stopped walking. He moved a little faster than before until he entered the building.

They stepped through the door. Everyone in the building was staring at the tall pillar of shadow who was speaking to them about something. Despite the fact that he was speaking loud enough that his voice echoed throughout the whole room, Nigel didn't hear a word he said. Contradictory to his calm outward demeanor, everything inside was in such turmoil that it seemed to mute senses of the world around him.

That wasn't the case for long, though. As he continued forward, he became aware that eyes were watching him. At first, just a few, but soon there were more. He felt a couple people reach out and try to agify him but when they saw it had no effect, they stepped back. A path started to open in the middle of the crowd of villains, the space filled by the sound of their whispers.

He was about a quarter of the way across the room when the people at the front noticed that something was happening. Many in the crowd tried to stand on the tips of their toes in order to see what it was. Most of them failed, as the pain of trying reminded them of the new affliction of arthritis that had settled into their joints.

Finally, Grandfather looked over at the figures that had just entered the building from his position on the stage. Nigel felt the weight of the old man's yellow eyed stare fall upon him. He pulled his own gaze from the audience and glared back, trying to put every bit of anger and defiance into it them that they held whenever he faced Father.

Almost everyone in the room expected Grandfather to blow his top in fury. Not only had a child been brought into his presence but the kid had the nerve to look him in the eye, rather than be cowed by the powerful man's presence. Many actually looked forward to the sight of Numbuh One being put in his place by the ancient, powerful being.

Instead, a look of open curiosity spread across the old man's face. "Well, well. What do we have here?" He asked as they closed the distance to the stage.

"A problem Grandfather." Rachel stated.

"Oh really?" He said in tone indicating he was only giving her a small portion of his attention as he examined the child she'd brought with her.

"Yes, this child, Nigel Uno was attempting to launch the Moon Base at the Earth; no doubt you were the target."

"So that's what Monty was planning," Grandfather said, sounding quite amused. "He always was quite creative." The old man came to the edge of the stage "but you've obviously dealt with the situation," he stated as he glanced toward Rachel before returning his gaze to Nigel. "And you've even saved me the trouble of having to find my grandson."

At this statement, the crowd of villains started to talk excitedly among themselves. Nigel Uno, Numbuh One of the KND, was Grandfathers grandson. There were statements ranging all the way from "I can't believe it" to "well that figures." The noise from the crowd echoed throughout the building, getting louder by the second. Nigel simply wondered how the old man recognized him considering that, before this day, they'd never even been in the same room together.

"Silence!" Grandfather yelled, causing the ground to tremble and the talking stopped.

Then, to Nigel, he stated, "Sorry for ignoring you earlier, if I'd known who you were, I would have given you much more of my attention. I might even have let you watch with me as my powers changed all the tree houses into Tapioca Factories."

Before Nigel could make a comment on just how little he'd have appreciated the view, Rachel stated, rather frankly, "If you think that just because we stopped Nigel from launching the moon base that he couldn't cause any more trouble, you really don't know your family at all."

"Excuse me?" The words came out almost as a growl as he glared at the Citizombie who'd accompanied Nigel into the building.

"Using some technology that had just been completed only moments before the Kids Next Door's defeat, he counteracted the effects of your powers on his sector…"

"What?!" the old man shrieked as he looked at her.

She continued as if he hadn't interrupted her, "And helped them escape the base when I arrived with backup to rectify the situation. We tried to turn him into a Citizombie but he was able to resist our aging attempts, for reasons of which I'm sure you are well aware of. We have search parties looking for his teammates but they haven't been apprehended yet."

He looked back at the boy again, his smile gone. Nigel now had a smirk of his own; he enjoyed seeing that his actions had gotten to his older relative. "What's the matter, Grandpa? Situation not dealt with as well as you thought? I'm guessing dad got away too, considering I haven't seen him yet." Nigel's grin grew wider as he said, "you know, from the stories I'd heard about you and from what I've seen from Father, I always thought you'd be a bit more… thorough with your work."

At that moment, the room had become so silent that a person could have heard a pin drop.

"You better stop now, boy," the old man said in a dangerously low voice, causing the ground to rumble ever so slightly as he spoke.

Nigel was scared but he wasn't about to let it show. "Why? It's not like it'll make a difference. Whatever you have planned, it's going to happen whether I behave like you want me to or openly express how I really feel about this mess you've made."

"True," the old man said as he came off the stage and floated in front of his Grandson, taking up a position where it looked like he was laying on air as he came to eye level with the boy, "but I wouldn't threaten to place you over my knee and give you a good spanking first," he said, quietly enough that only the boy could hear it.

Nigel lifted an eyebrow as he stated loud enough to be heard, "it wouldn't be the first time a villain did that. Count Spankulot's got it down to an art form. Besides, are you really going to fall back on the first major form of punishment our family is known for? I mean, come on, that move is what, roughly five centuries old now?"

The old man was now caught between anger and confusion. "And how do you know that? I haven't passed the old family journals on yet."

"You'd be surprised what's in the KND archives."

Grandfather just looked at the boy thoughtfully for a few moments. Nigel suspected that he was doing it to make him nervous and it was working. Finally, the old man stated, "You know, despite having your dad's eyes, I don't think you have his personality. He was never very interested in the past and he certainly wouldn't call a spanking a minor threat. Clearly, I need to take a new approach."

For a few moments, the old man continued to study the boy. Then he smiled again and chuckled, startling the child. It only got worse when the silhouetted monster grabbed the boy with one hand and lifted him off the ground as he returned to standing position.

"So," Grandfather began, "you think you've succeeded in a major accomplishment by freeing a few friends of yours, do you?" He sat down on the edge of the stage, which was the perfect height from the ground to act like a seat for his tall, silhouetted form. "I'll admit," he continued as he placed Nigel down beside him on his left, "I am impressed that you managed to get to the moon and even upon failing to go through with crashing it into me, come up with a fallback plan." He made hand gestures as he talked to emphasize his words.

Nigel watched, still having to look up at Grandfather, despite the sitting position the senior Uno had taken. He was able to tell that the old man liked being the center of attention. Everyone in the room was trying to get into a position where they could get a good view of what was happening. He was clearly building up to something. That much was obvious. The child doubted the old man would freely throw praise, especially so shortly after being insulted.

"But you shouldn't let it go to your head." He continued, "Your efforts won't make a difference in the long run. Your friends will be recaptured, their equipment will be destroyed and they will succumb to my powers again."

"No, my team will find a way to stop you," Nigel stated with much more confidence in his voice than he actually felt. It had hardly been four hours since the old man had regained his powers and the situation already looked pretty bleak. On the other hand, his dad was still free, too. That was something, wasn't it? "With Dad's help, they'll be able to come up with a plan."

"Really," Grandfather said in a skeptical, mocking tone, "do you think so? Look around," he said, gesturing to the audience. Nigel followed the gesture and felt a wave of misery wash over him as he viewed the crowd. Many of the people at the front of the room were big time villains whom he had faced on multiple occasions, dangerous opponents who had never quit, no matter what the KND had done. Now they were wrinkly old things whom were loyal to the monster seated beside him.

"This is how it is everywhere." The old man continued as Nigel's gaze fell on Rachel, whom refused to look at him. Rachel, who fought so hard for freedom had even fallen under this tyrants spell. Nigel's anger started to fight to the surface, warring with fear and depressions as he listened to Grandfather speak. "There may be a few pockets where people are still beyond my reach. A child hidden under a bed here, a few teenagers who've locked themselves in a room to there, maybe even a person or two that are as old as my Citizombies blending in at a BINGO game somewhere but they won't last long. This is my world, now. They're just trapped in it, same as you."

Nigel allowed his anger at the old man to rise to the forefront of his mind. He looked at the mess Grandfather had made. How dare he blow away every ones lives for his stupid, disgusting tapioca factories which blotted out the sky and poisoned the very air they breathed. What makes him think he has the right to strip every one of their youth and freedom? He held to this line of thinking, trying to block out the thoughts niggling at the back of his mind about how hopeless the situation seemed.

Nigel was jostled from his thoughts when he felt the weight of Grandfather's large hand fall across his left shoulder and upper back. He looked into the old man's glowing yellow orbs and felt his fear bubbling up again, though his anger still held sway. He attempted to shrug the hand off his shoulders but failed miserably. The next words the old man said really caught him off guard though.

"But not to worry, you won't share their fate. After all, you are MY grandson." At this, sounds of disappointment rang out from the audience, along with a few boos and hisses, which fell silent as the old man picked one of the louder objectors and shot him a burning glare, literally.

"And, now that I think about it, I owe you my gratitude. After all, you did play a large role in the reawakening of my powers." If his last comment surprised the child, this one broadsided him. A reminder of the role he'd played in this mess was the last thing he'd ever wanted. He looked at the floor, unable to stand seeing the old man's sneer, "I mean if you hadn't decided to jump in on your uncle's speech, he might not have gotten the chance to awaken me before he had that recommissioning device taken away from him. For goodness sake, how many times have you lot thwarted his plans anyway?"

Despite all attempts of self-control, Nigel felt himself begin to tremble under Grandfather's grip. All of this might have been avoided if he had worked with the Supreme Leader to come up with a plan, rather than rush in and try to deal with the situation on his own. He'd have probably been back in the tree house right now with his friends, urging them to write out their mission reports as they talked about the shocked looks on the Villains faces when they defeated them. At the image of the normalcy that could have been, Nigel felt a tear roll down his face.

A tendril from Grandfathers Silhouette reached under Nigel's chin and forced it up so that the boy had no choice but to look into the face of the ancient being sitting beside him. Nigel could tell he was reaching the climax of his big speech. He looked pleased with himself but there was something more in that look.

Then, upon seeing that Nigel had actually started crying, the look was replaced with a genuinely melancholy expression. Grandfather rubbed his thumb along Nigel's back in what seemed like a comforting gesture as he said. "You know, you're the first family member who's actually been raised in a way that has encouraged you to see it as a shameful thing to help restore an evil relative to power, let alone be acknowledged for it." The old man shook his head, "It's actually quite sad."

Nigel personally didn't care about what the standard child on his dad's side of the family was like. He was far more focused on the here and now, where he was being put on display in front of most of the world's villains for the second time today because of his mistake. He tried to shrug the old man's hand off again, with an equal level of failure as the first attempt.

"Even Monty's rebellious attitude would have been easily correctable, if I hadn't been stripped of my powers," He stated, thumb stopping again. "There is actually a long record of children in our family having a rowdy stage that they go through. Usually, they were stopped by older family members. Your dad is only the exception to the rule because he had that stupid book."

"Despite your rearing, Nigel, you come from a long line of the world's greatest evil villains." Nigel felt fear sink its own cold tendrils into his mind as an idea about what Grandfather might be planning began to form, one he wasn't sure he wanted to acknowledge. The silhouetted figure carried on, making rapid gestures with his free hand as he did so, "I'll be honest, when he wrecked my tapioca factory and stood against me, I didn't think he'd have the equipment to back up his behavior and I paid the price for that. I lost my powers, my memories and my kingdom." He paused for a moment before asking, as a wicked smile reappeared on his face and his grip on Nigel's shoulder tightened, "but do you know what would have happened to him if didn't use that device at the last second?"

It took a moment before Nigel realized Grandfather actually wanted an answer from him. "You were going to use your powers to blast him."

The old man's smugness returned in full as he responded, "Yes, but what this blast would do was very special." He summoned one of the very rings of energy that Nigel had heard about in the tales of how Numbuh Zero defeated him, around the hand that held the boy in place, its diameter just inches away from the child. A look of horror crossed Nigel's face as he felt his fears had been confirmed.

"I'm going to set things right and make sure this family gets back on track," Grandfather stated above the noise made by the energy spinning around the child he held in place.

"No," Nigel yelled, terrified. The old man's grip on him tightened uncomfortably. For the first time the boy gave his grandparent a pleading look and begged over the sound of the whirling energy, "not this, please! Anything but this!"

"And I'm going to start right now," he continued as if he couldn't see or hear the child's begging, "by activating the dormant powers that you have inherited through my rebellious son," He finished and allowed the ring to collapse inward on the child.

Nigel was instantly immersed in so much pain that he became unaware of anything else. Every inch of his body, which glowed as Grandfathers had when he was first reawakened, felt like it was on fire. This was was actually the case but instead of being destroyed by the flames, as anyone else would have been, his body absorbed them. The energy leeched into every part of him, awakening a force that had always been sleeping there, unnoticed by its owner simply because it was as natural as any of his organs. Now this part made itself known.

If Grandfather hadn't been holding him, he would have collapsed into a heap on the floor, much like his ropes, which were now a burning pile on the stage. As it was, the ancient being scooped him up with more tenderness than any would have thought him capable of and held him in his arms, as if he were an infant, rather than a ten year old child. For once, the old man's awareness of the crowd seemed to fall away completely, the only thing of importance being the child in his grasp.

After a few moments, the severe pain Nigel felt subsided, leaving behind comfortable warmth which caused his exhausted body to relax. For a few seconds, he was lucid enough to feel angry, scared and hurt by what had just happened. Aware enough to know he had been turned into one of the creatures that haunted his worst nightmares, as well as those of every child in the Kids Next Door. He shot an angry look at the person who had just hurt him so much.

Then the urge to sleep fell over him, pushing aside all other thoughts including where he was and what was going on around him. Even those of the person holding him, the horrible pain he had just endured and what it all meant lost their importance in comparison. The last thing he saw before his eyes closed was shadow covering his body, cloaking it in blackness which was as dark as that of the being that held him.

* * *

"Sir?" A voice called out from the crowd.

Grandfather looked up from the boy he was cradling gently to see that it was Mr. Boss who had spoken, once again becoming aware that he was still on stage in front of a crowd of people. "What?" He asked, sounding annoyed.

"I know the kid's your grandson but don't you think giving him powers right now is dangerous?"

The old man shook his head, "Surely you don't think the boy's going to wake up with his body instantly adjusted to his powers and his abilities and skills suddenly at their full potential, do you?"

"How should we know?"

"That was a rhetorical question you fool!" Grandfather rolled his eyes. Powers take years to master. Furthermore, there were ways to keep the child in line, especially during the first year or so. No, Grandfather wasn't worried about his grandson being a threat at all. The only way anything could go wrong was if the child was left to his own devices or perhaps under only Monty's influence. The old man was determined to make sure that wouldn't be the case.

His thoughts were interrupted as a device started beeping Number Three Sixty Two's pocket. She picked up what looked like a 90s cell phone and said, "This had better be important," as everyone in the room glared at her. Not only had she spoken rudely to Grandfather earlier but now she was holding an object that resisted his powers to some extent simply because nothing like it had existed in his youth. Her eyes narrowed and she glanced back at Grandfather, "yes. I understand. I'll tell him. Carry on." With that, she shut the flip phone and put it back in her pocket.

"Sector V's tree house is operational and they have applied the anti-aging technology to their artillery. We've lost a few ships, some have crashed and others have been reverted to their natural state. Sector V is holding their ground. It looks like the Kids Next Door has risen again." She glanced at the boy in his hands, "It's your grandson's security system that's protecting them." This was really her way of saying that Nigel's already causing problems for them.

"Well, I suppose I should to give your troops a hand then." Grandfather said, stood up with the child still tucked carefully in his grip and created two duplicates of himself.

"I'd like you to stay and deal with our current issue here," he stated to one of them, pointing in the direction where that stupid, indestructible Book of KND was hidden from view. The thing was still one piece, despite multiple attempts to shred and burn the bloody thing before and during his flight earlier. "You can also take care of any other matters that might cross your mind."

"Like gathering information on what's happened while you've been without powers?" the duplicate queried.

"Exactly," he said before turning to the other duplicate. "And you, Tell Monty about his son. Heck, if you can, tear down that tree house, deal with the brats, get him and bring him back to our old home."

"With pleasure," the duplicate stated with an evil grin on his face.

"Why does he get the fun task?" The first one whined.

The original glared at the cranky copy as the other duplicate stuck his tongue out at him before flying over the audience and making a hole in the wall beside the door as he made his exit. "What does it matter?" He asked as he readjusted his unconscious grandchild so that he had a better grip on him. "You're both part of me anyway. You'll know as soon as I recall you."

"But he gets to put a bunch of little kids in their place and bring Monty home for a visit while I have to stay here, doing business and dealing with a children's book. Hey, I know," the duplicate stated as he leaned in toward the being he resembled, "I'll take Nigel off your hands so that you can stay here and work."

The other being positioned himself so that he blocked his doppelganger's view of the smaller silhouetted form in his grasp as he said, "maybe I should just get rid of you and summon another duplicate to do this."

"I'm you. He'd have the same personality as us and you'd have to start this argument all over again."

"You're going to stay here!" The original yelled, causing the ground to tremble, the crowd to flinch and the child in his arms to mumble in his powers induced sleep.

"Okay, I'll stay here," he said, distancing himself from the other figure. "No need to scream at me about it."

Grandfather glanced at his scared audience of obedient slaves and said, "Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going home for the evening."

With that, the Evil Ruler of the World flew out of the hole he had made in the ceiling earlier that day, taking his grandchild with him.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Father finds out what has been happening.
> 
> Sector V has to fend off an attack from Grandfather's Duplicate.

Father was watching out of a second story window at the battle going at Sector V’s Tree House, his pipe in his mouth and his yellow and pink robe worn over his silhouette suite.  He had first set his chair there when the ships had starting attacking the structure.  There was nothing better to do anyway.  Watching as the event unfurled up the street, he was genuinely impressed with the display.  Sector V was holding their ground quite well. 

When the fighting had come to a standstill, he went to talk to his Delightful Children, whom had gone back to their room after returning home, to find out what had happened on the Moon Base. 

After they’d explained what had happened to them, they asked him about his confrontation with Grandfather.  Instead of answering, he bounced a coin off of their bed and commented on how well made it was.  He recalled how, when the children had first been delightfulized, it had made him a little uncomfortable to see that they couldn’t separate long enough to sleep separately at night.  Now he just saw it as a minor quirk that came with their wonderful behavior. 

They didn’t push him for the answer to their question, recognizing that he was actually trying to cover up his anger at a touchy subject.  Instead, they thanked him for complimenting on their devotion to keeping the room neat.  Despite his overall mood, he smiled at their demonstration of good manners.  They could be annoying but they had their moments.

The villain was more than a little upset with himself.  Part of him had actually wanted to beat his pappy up for being so mean to him but he couldn’t bring himself to do it.  Grandfather was, after all, his father.

He had decided to order his children to get their spy fly up and running.  He figured it would be a good idea to keep tabs on Sector V.  Besides, his children needed something to do other than obsess over their defeat by Nigel.  How ironic that even when they were supposed to be working with the little snot nosed brat, he still managed to get in a fight with them.

Father ground his teeth at the thought of his Nephew.  That boy could convince any child to misbehave, even the villain’s own delightful children, a feat accomplished by almost no one else.  The man recalled how he had told them that they would help Numbuh Zero and his son stop Grandfather.  The whole time they sat there and listened to him.  Then they pushed him over and took the gun in an attempt to vaporize the two again anyway.

Father went to his lair and decided to do some dusting.  It was always calming to clean and organize his lair.  There was something about seeing a clean, neat space that just left him feeling better.  Especially when he knew that he’d have that place to himself.  He actually felt his silhouette suit fall away as he relaxed. 

After a while he sat down in a comforter he had in the room he was working in, setting his pipe on the small stand next to it.  He stared out the window, hoping to take in the serene view.  Unfortunately, it wasn’t as nice to look at with the layer of smog from the factories overhead.  He sighed in disappointment.

Then, from outside somewhere, Benedict heard a voice call, “Hi Monty.  How is my favorite son doing?”  With that, he grabbed up his pipe and rushed back up to his vantage point, once again cloaked in shadow.  He had expected the old man to drop by at his brother’s but not this soon.  He was standing just outside the tree house’s defensive boundary, focusing completely on the structure. 

Father wondered what his Pappy planned to do to Sector V’s base.  He’d seen the old man’s previous attempt to turn it into a tapioca factory.  The memory caused him to smile for the second time in an hour.  He knew that the older villain was used to getting his way.  It must have been a real blow to his pride when his seemingly unstoppable powers were halted by the Tree House of Coolness.

The being outside continued talking, “I just met your son, or should I say my original self did.  It gets awfully confusing, figuring out a way to make the reference, as a duplicate.”    The old man’s smile was absolutely wicked now. 

A duplicate?  Why wouldn’t Grandfather come in person?  It clearly had something to do with Nigel but still…

Suddenly, a speaker system cracked to life in Sector V’s tree house and a familiar, although unexpected voice echoed over it.  “What have you done with my big brother’s best friend, you oversized candlestick.”  Father almost laughed out loud.  It was Tommy Gilligan, being a thorn in someone’s side as usual.  His whole family was amongst the most stubborn people Father had ever had the displeasure of knowing and they had brains and technology to back it up.

Grandfather’s duplicate stood there silently, as if the boy’s comment wasn’t even worth acknowledging.  He probably thought it wasn’t, considering he didn’t know just how much of a threat that particular little brat could be.  Well, Father wasn’t about to say anything after the way he’d been rejected by the older villain.

Suddenly there was a scuffling noise on the speakers and he heard Hoagie Jr.’s voice in the background, “Come on Tommy, and give it to Nigel’s dad already.”

“But he’s ignoring me,”

“Do you think that’s going to change if you keep talking?”

“Well…”

As they argued, Grandfather stood with his arms crossed, looking impatient.  Finally, he said, “I don’t plan on waiting here all day.  Either let Monty on or I’m going to start tearing down the tree house now, rather than after telling him about his son.”

There were some shuffling noises on the speaker and the sound of Hoagie and Monty saying something to each other before the Uno’s voice came over the speaker system.  “Where is he?”  The sentence, as short as it was, was full of emotion. Benedict couldn’t begin to picture the fear his big brother was feeling.  Even he felt a little edgy at the thought of what their pappy might have done to Nigel, although he would have loved to see the look on the boy’s face when he was brought before Grandfather.

“Why, he’s safe at home, or perhaps I’m still taking him there. I couldn’t leave the boy somewhere so exposed as the Convention Center.  If you want, I could take you to him.  I’m sure he’d appreciate having you around, especially in his current condition.”  The moment that followed was deathly silent.  Father was desperately hoping that his Pappy wasn’t implying what he thought he was. He was sure Monty had the same suspicion he did.

“What have you done to him?”  Numbuh Zero finally asked.

“I activated his powers of course.”

“Oh Pappy, No!”

“Oh yes, Monty.  Not that he wasn’t a little spitfire before.  From what I saw, I think they’ll go well with him.”

Suddenly there was a groaning sound from the tree and a large number of missiles launched right at the old man.  They hit the duplicate, which Father knew from personal experience was far weaker than the being who had summoned it, causing it to flinch.

As for Father himself, he now had more important things to do than watch what happened here.  He could not afford to sit on the sidelines.  He stood up and turned to see his children standing behind the chair, looking greatly disturbed.  “Is it true, Father?  Does Numbuh One really have powers like you now?”

“I’m going to visit my dad and find out,” he said before marching past them and down the stairs.  “Jenkins,” he yelled, “I’m going out and I want the limo ready to go, now.”

He glanced back to see that he had left scorch marks where he stepped on the rug that covered the stairs.  That had to be the third time he’d done that in the last year. He’d have to order another one later, if the company was still running.

* * *

 

 

 

The tree house was alive with activity.  More so than it had ever been before, Tommy suspected.  Now that it was occupied with not only the people who had come here seeking asylum but also the KND members whom had been freed during the previous attack roughly an hour ago. Most of the vehicles had held between three and five operatives in them, one for maneuvering the vehicle and the others to fire weapons or prepare to secure prisoners.  They’d also gotten two DOH-DOHs which held six kids each and a COOLBUS full of would be invaders. People were now rushing around.  Most of them were heading to the newly freed ships or to the guns. 

They had been lucky to get more people who had enough understanding of technology to grasp how to build his big brothers lasers after looking at the diagram. So they were able to get some more guns set up, although there was really so much people could do in such a short amount of time.

  He shouldn’t have been surprised that so many of the operatives were able to help; recalling how it was two by four knowledge was one of the major things that were focused on during KND training.  There would be few KND agents who wouldn’t at least have a minimal grasp of what they saw.  He had personally excelled in that field beyond anyone else in his class.  He had even heard that his scores in that field had been similar to his brothers.

Hoagie had assigned him the task of making a device that the hamsters could use.  It sort of worked like the original birthday suit design, only it covered an area around the hamster about a foot in diameter.  Some of the hamsters had actually surprised him by starting to build their own after watching him.  Others took the devices and rushed down several holes in the building.  He recalled Numbuh Two mentioning one time that the KND scientists had bred the animals so that they were different from normal ones.  Watching them, he was willing to believe it.

Still, at first he had been annoyed at being told to make stuff for hamsters while everyone else was doing more important things.   Now, seeing as the population of hamsters had tripled over the last hour and were working full time on their wheels in the generator, he felt differently.  The task Hoagie had given him was extremely important. At one point, he had even seen an agified hamster sneak into view only to be jumped on by one of the hamsters wearing his device.

Then Grandfather showed up, or his double or whatever it was.  Darn it, why did their powers have to make things so confusing.  It was easy to see where Father learned to be such a big, rude Meany. 

Tommy had been closer to the speakers than anyone else when the older being started talking about Numbuh One.  He didn’t like the tone the old man used when he referred to the Leader of Sector V.  Tommy liked the boy almost as much as his older brother.  He recalled that originally, he had actually disliked Nigel because Hoagie spent all his time with the boy but that had changed, starting when the bald child had come to him for help.  Then, keeping his end of the deal he’d made to enlist his help, the older boy had pulled some strings to get him into the Kids next door.  Then he learned more about Numbuh One during his training. It was already an impressive record at that time.  It also revealed that, in order to even consider asking Tommy for help, even in the most desperate of circumstances, Numbuh One must have had a good opinion of him.  By the time that Tommy became Numbuh T (oh, how he wished he was still Numbuh T), he was nearly as excited to work with Numbuh One as with his big brother.  Too bad it didn’t pan out that way.

So he jumped to the speaker to ask what Grandfather had done to him.

And now Grandfather was ignoring him while his brother was trying to take the speaker away.  For a few moments, he and Hoagie fought over the mike but when Grandfather threatened to attack right then, Tommy looked around and knew, watching everyone run around, that they needed the time.  He released the mike to Hoagie.

“Here you are Numbuh Zero,” The older boy said.

“Thank you Numbuh Two,” He said but his mind was clearly elsewhere.  He looked really scared.  He picked up the megaphone and asked, “Where is he?”

Tommy couldn’t help but feel disgusted that anyone would try to scare their own family members like this. He suddenly felt a little understanding for why Father turned out the way he did.  Thus far, Tommy had only dealt with Grandfather indirectly for a few hours.  The person living down the lane had to spend a large part of his childhood with him.  It was enough to mess up anyone.  The real wonder was that Nigel’s Dad wasn’t as affected by the constant exposure when he was younger.

Hoagie put his hand on Tommy’s shoulder and said, “come on, we need to get ready for when Grandfather gets bored of talking.”

Tommy glanced at the adult talking into the speaker system one more time before he followed his brother.  A couple moments later, there was a noticeable silence, he listened to Numbuh Zero finally ask, “What have you done to him?”

“I’ve activated his powers, of course.”

At the comment, both Tommy and Hoagie stopped in their tracks, completely shocked at what they’d heard.

* * *

 

Numbuh Three was doing a last check on HIPPIE-HOP (Hare Inspired Piston Powered Ingenious Exoskeleton Hops Over Parents) when she heard the same announcement that had caused the Gilligan boys to momentarily freeze up. 

Nigel’s grandpa wasn’t being very nice.  She was glad her grandparents weren’t like Numbuh One’s.  They weren’t even good at giving gifts.  His grandma on his mom’s side gave him a hair dryer and now his grandpa from his dad’s side gave him a scary suit.  What was with them and clothes, anyway?

Poor Numbuh One, she thought as she listened to Zero’s response, he must be scared, all alone with Grandfather.  He didn’t even have the rainbow monkey he kept hidden under the floorboard at the top left corner of his bed, which she knew about because she’d smelled it one time while she went in to talk to him.  She wished he was here instead.

Hearing Grandfather say that Nigel would be well suited to the powers, she suddenly stopped feeling sad and started feeling angry.  As she heard the Missiles launch, she took comfort in the fact that the order to fire them could only have been given by Numbuh Four in the artillery room.  She realized he must have been angry, too.  Good.  If she couldn’t be with him in this fight, at least she could be sure that they were feeling the same emotions.

As she climbed into the cockpit she said, in the tone that caused not only Villains but her own teammates shivering in fear, “HIPPIE-HOP, We have a code N-11!”HIPPIE-HOP might jump right over parents, but it was going to land right on Grandfather’s duplicate. 

* * *

 

 

The other people who were setting up their machines looked up as she yelled only to see the cockpit close and the giant bunny launch itself through the ceiling.  The Senior Citizen Squad all looked at each other.  Sheldon, the taller man, asked, “Weren’t we planning on attacking as a group or something?”

Maurice, the dark skinned member of the group queried, “What was that about chicken and dumplings?”

Jackson called out from behind, “he didn’t say anything about chicken and dumplings, you deaf, forgetful old...”

 Lydia caught a glimpse of the baby’s mouth and cut him off by saying, “You know, shortly after you showed up here, our spare dentures disappeared. You wouldn’t happen to know where they are, would you?” She asked very pointedly.  “If I come out and check those things in your mouth right now and they turn out to be them, I’ll give you a punishment you won’t forget even if you reach my age.”

The baby’s face paled at the comment and he said, “I think we ought to be preparing for the fight right now.”

“Good.  And this evening, when I go to bed, if my dentures are still missing, I’ll pull them straight out of the mouth of the thief who has them.  Do I make myself clear?”

The baby gulped and said “I’m sure they’ll be there when you look at bed time.”

The old Lady Nodded and said, “Well, what are you waiting for, we all know that rabbit’s not going to last long, we better get out there fast.”

* * *

 

 

Grandfather’s Duplicate melted away the outer perimeter defenses as he moved forward slowly.  He wanted to draw this out in order to scare all the defiant brats that were hiding in that tree house.  Their missiles, while a little irritating, had done no real damage.  The smoke that they left behind had almost been worse.

Suddenly, he heard a roaring sound which preceded the sight of a giant machine launching out of the building.  As it landed, spun, and took up a more stable position, Grandfather realized it was a giant rabbit.

“Really!  You’re going to defend yourselves with a giant bunny?”

Said Bunny suddenly sprouted weapons over every inch of its body and said, “We are ready… TO PLAY!”

Okay, this wasn’t as pathetic, the duplicate thought, wishing that he was able to use the agification powers that the being that’d willed him into existence was had at his disposal.  It would have been nice to have one of these attacking the base.  Oh, well.  Wishing won’t get a person very far anyway.  It was almost as annoying and pointless as hope.

The Bunny began its assault by launching missiles.  This time, the villain blew the weapons up before they reached him, some by launching fire from his eyes and others by using his telekinetic abilities to trigger the inner mechanisms of the explosives.  He was even able to set a couple of them off close enough to the robot to cause it to sway from the blasts.

Before the flames he’d shot had even completely faded, the bunny had launched itself at him.  It bounced off him, feet first.  He gave it an angry look as it landed and almost immediately launched itself at him again, this time he shape shifted, looking like a floating black blob with tendrils coming off of the edges rather than a human being. As the Machine landed in the middle of the floating dark mass, the villain wrapped around it like giant octopus and looked in at the cockpit.  He was met by the sight of angry Asian girl very real flames for hair and in her eyes.

He’d heard rumors of another group of people in japan with a completely different set of fire powers, but had never personally seen them before.  The duplicate would report that he may have confirmed their existence when he was done here.

As he glared at the girl, he heated up the metal surfaces that he’d attached himself to.  Anywhere where he could get a grip, he started pulling the machine apart. He lifted the Rabbit into the air as he tore holes in it and reached deeper, destroying its inner workings as he went.

The duplicate was suddenly distracted as a beam from the tree house hit him, almost causing him to lose stability from its effects, causing his body to appear to vibrate and momentarily fade.  He knew that the results were visible to the people in the tree house and dropped the machine so that he could dodge the next round that was shot at him.

As HIPPIE-HOP fell to the ground in pieces, Numbuh Three was launched from the cockpit, her parachute opening while she was still in the air for once.  She suddenly felt calm again as she floated through the air.  The breeze took her right past the duplicate. “Hi Numbuh One’s Grandpa” she called out in her usual cheerful voice as she floated by. 

The duplicate watched her float, clearly confused by her behavior.  Was she…what was that word psychologist’s use… bipolar?  He didn’t have much time to think about it, as several other machines launched out of the building.  “You’ve got to be kidding me!” Grandfather’s doppelganger exclaimed as the machines all fell into place in front of him.  They weren’t all KND either.  The smallest ships were so tiny that they either lacked pilots, or people weren’t giving toddlers enough credit.

Three mechanical shuttles came together just in front of him forming a single robot.  They were being operated by people around his age and that was without agificatication.  He recognized the woman in the top section of it, too.

 “Hello Lydia,” He called out.  “How are you doing?”

“I was doing just fine until you used your powers to mess things up.”

“Oh, come now.  You’re not being fair.  You’d actually benefit from this you know, you are older than me, if only by a year or two.  If you were turned into a citizombie, you’d actually regain some of your youth.”

“I have better methods for chasing after my youth.”  Then she said, “How about instead, we defeat you and then go after your original and remind him that he is not the center of the universe?”

“You and what army?”

“Clearly you have no idea of what’s really going on.  That’s totally typical of you.”

Below her, Maurice asked, “The retirement home’s serving pickles and juice?”

Grandfather looked at the other senior and said, “That’s just sad.”

“You weren’t much better before your youngest used that recommissioning device on you, Mr. Memory Mix Up.”

Grandfather’s duplicate looked ticked.  “There’s no need to be like that.”

“Then keep your comments to yourself.”

Suddenly, from one of the vehicles above a child’s voice yelled through a speaker, “Do you old geezers plan to talk each other to death or what?”

Grandfather’s duplicate shot flames at the ship, hitting it and causing it to spin to the ground.

As if it were a signal, all of the other ships fired their weapons on him, including the ones that had been used to reverse the effects of Grandfather’s agification powers.  Although the lasers were not enough to completely defeat the doppelganger, they again caused the being to vibrate and became insubstantial.  It also was more heavily affected when the missiles exploded against it.

He was also unprepared to be hit by a pair of giant canes from the robot operated by Lydia and her fellows.  They nailed him square on in the face immediately after that.  On top of that, the little brats started staggering their beams, ensuring that there was never a break where the duplicate could reestablish itself.  He tried to summon a fireball to lob at his opponent but was unable to summon more than a tiny spark to his hands in his destabilized form and even that just ended up burning him.

He swooped down toward the ground and past the bases defenders, momentarily escaping the beams from both the machines out front and the defenses from the base itself and finally approaching the tree house.  Then, there was a hamster with a spray bottle in front of him.  Despite the situation, he chuckled as he flew over the thing.  The idea of even a duplicate of Grandfather considering a rodent a threat was absolutely ridiculous.

* * *

 

 

Before the ancient thing finished its laugh, the tiny hamster squirted the bottle, catching the lowest tendrils on his suit as the being passed by.  To everyone’s shock, there was a loud popping noise and a flash of light.  When their eyes readjusted, Grandfather’s duplicate was nowhere to be seen or heard.  Most people didn’t even understand what happened, as they never really paid attention to the world of the playful little rodents that usually powered the tree house and occasionally defended it.

Joaquin looked at his water bottle and then back to where Grandfathers duplicate had been.  He glanced behind him to see a couple of agified hamsters staring at him in shock.  He smiled and pointed the spray bottle at them as they made a dash back into the house below their home.  He was having more fun than a day spent chasing Numbuh Four with a soda can. 

* * *

 

 Numbuh Four rushed to the hanger bay as the ships flew back in. He hoped Kuki wasn’t hurt.

 He’d been worried when he saw HIPPIE-HOP leap out into the field by itself.  He knew Numbuh Three had to be very angry, he had been too but that didn’t mean that she should face Grandfather’s… whatever it was… all by herself.  Then, when it grabbed the robot up like a doll and started tearing it apart, he’d fired a beam from one of the guns Numbuh Two had modified at it. 

Everyone was surprised to see how major the effects had been and he was overjoyed that Grandfather had dropped it and that, for once, the parachute had successfully opened when it’s pilot was launched from the cockpit.  Grandfather had even let her float to the ground without bothering her but Numbuh Four couldn’t tell if she was hurt or not.

Numbuh Five, who had been in charge of communication between the ships and the base, came up to him and he asked, “What have you heard about Numbuh Three?”

“She’s been picked up by one of our ships, she scraped her knee when she landed but other than that, she seems to be fine.  I don’t think we can say the same about the kids in the ship that Grandfather shot down though.”

Numbuh Four felt guilty, he hadn’t even really thought about them because he was so concerned about her, “Are they…”

“They’re alive but it sounds like they’re hurt like we were that time we had to deal with the pianos.” She looked up as the ships started unloading.  “Numbuh Three can double check to be sure but if it’s true, we don’t have anyone skilled enough to help them here.”

Numbuh Four turned to see Numbuh 44B approaching him, the other twin was still a citizombie, probably in the camp across the street.  The boy saluted him and he nodded, giving him permission to speak.  “Sir, we have retrieved the casualties and need help moving them to the medical center in the building.”

Numbuh Four glanced past him to see Numbuh Three step off of a ship.  Then he looked back at the boy.  “Ask Numbuh Three to help you.  No one knows our medical stuff better than her and we have at least a couple of wheel chairs that we can use to help move the soldiers but I don’t know where they are.”

The other boy nodded and ran toward the girl.

Then, Numbuh Two came rushing over.  He rushed over and said, “We’ve got a couple problems.”

Numbuh Four looked at him and asked, “I know that, we have a bunch of kids that were injured in a crash,” Numbuh Four said.

“No, I mean with the base.  I’ve got some bad news and some really, really bad news.”

Wally felt a head ache coming on.  He was starting to get an appreciation for some of the stress that must come with being a Supreme Leader.  “Alright, what’s the bad news?”

“Grandfathers duplicate damaged a large percentage of our security on the front lawn.  We’ll have to put people on watch and put a group in the artillery room, just in case.”

“And the really, really bad news?”

“Before it showed up, I was talking with my grandma and she told me that, even with both the tapioca and increasing number of hamsters that are being used to power the base right now, we only have enough power to keep everything running through midnight.”

Numbuh Four grimaced, that was cruddy news.  It was already starting to get dark.  He thought for a moment and then had an idea.  “What if we put the base on lockdown tonight?”

Numbuh Two thought about it for a few moments running numbers through his head in ways that Numbuh Four suspected he could never dream of doing himself.  Finally, he said, “that might work to get us through to tomorrow morning, even if we set the guns to automatically shoot at anything that moves on the front lawn.  But we’d need power immediately upon opening the base up.

Well then we’ll have to get a team to get more, won’t we?  Didn’t the SCS say they had an entire truck load of tapioca?”

“Yeah and we should have at least some more hamsters freed, although I’d imagine that the agified ones are getting wise to what the others are doing by now.”

“If we can distract the citizombies somehow, maybe we could get a team out safely.  We might even be able use it as an opportunity to go to the elementary school.  We could drop some people off there and pick up another load of fountain of youth water.  You remember the type of problems they had when Gallagher Middle School tried to attack them.  They could use some help over there.”  He glanced at Numbuh Five and said, “I know you keep track of the skill level of the KND members Numbuh Five, do you think you could assemble of team who have decent skills but won’t be missed much here.”

“Numbuh Five’ll see what she can do, Numbuh Four.”

“We’ll meet up in the situation room in twenty minutes to discuss our plan.  I want a strategy in place and the team to be ready to roll in the next hour.”  Then he looked around and asked, “Hey, where’s Numbuh Zero.  I know he’s an adult but I’d figured he’d want to get in on this discussion, especially considering we just defeated Grandfather’s copy thingy.”

“Numbuh Five hasn’t seen him.”

Numbuh Two added, “the last time I saw him was just before the fight, when I allowed him to use the speaker system to…”  his voice trailed off, recalling that the last words they’d heard from him had been his response when Grandfather had told him that he had awakened Nigel’s powers.

Under normal circumstances, Numbuh Four would have volunteered to look for Nigel’s dad, himself.  As things were, he had to lots to do, including establishing communication with other resistance groups,  finding out the amount of weapons and supplies they had left and authorizing a schedule for when people when eat sleep and work.  He glanced at Numbuh Two and asked, “I don’t suppose you could try to find him.”

“Yeah, I’ll look.”

“I still want you to be at the meeting, though.”

The other boy nodded. Then the team broke up to work on their individual tasks. 

* * *

 

Numbuh Zero looked back at the tree house.  The organization had come a long way since he had restarted it a generation ago.  Things were very much in control here.  The fact that they had fought off and destroyed one of Grandfather’s duplicates was proof enough of that.  He doubted that they’d lose much in his absence.  Even the emotional aspect of losing him would be counterbalanced when they got in contact with those other resistance groups.

As he turned and looked at the main camp that the citizombies had set up across the street from his home, his thoughts turned to family.  His dad was back in power and now had his son hostage.  His brother had proven to be about useless for facing his pappy directly and his wife was probably a citizombie. 

Monty had a duty to his wife and his son.  By turning himself in, he could definitely make things easier for Nigel and possibly for his wife, wherever she was.

The thought of his son going through having his powers awakened and having only Grandfather around to tend to him during that made Monty sick.  He recalled what happened when his brother’s powers had started and those were triggered by his own emotions, not forced on him by their dad. 

Well, Nigel wouldn’t be alone for much longer.  Monty would make sure he was there for his son.  He didn’t need to read the parenting section in the newspaper to know that the boy would need his support.

Maybe he could even convince Grandfather to find Katherine and release her from her citizombification, too.  His dad might very well agree to it too, as having his favorite son staying with him would no doubt put him in a good mood. 

Monty cringed at the thought, recalling how Grandfather had talked to him today.  He was clearly one of those parents who refused to acknowledge that their kids had grown up, based on their conversation.  He had a feeling that it was going to be nearly unbearable to be treated like that, especially considering he was in his late thirties.

As he stepped into the lights of the camp, he heard an old man shout the order of “Freeze.”

He complied and lifted his hands in the air to show he was unarmed.

“Identify yourself.”

“I am Numbuh Zero, dad of Numbuh One, Brother of Father and Son of Grandfather.  I’ve come to turn myself in.”

There was some talking that was too quiet for Monty to make out.  Then the man who had told him to freeze called out, “I’m sending some soldiers in to restrain you, don’t try anything funny.”

A group of elderly ex-KND agents stepped forward.  One of them cuffed his hands behind his back.  He felt the barrel of a weapon in the small of his back shortly after that.  “Move,” he was commanded.

As he was lead into the camp, he saw an elderly redhead.  By the way the others reacted as she approached, it was clear that she was running the show.

“Numbuh Zero,” she said with an Irish accent, “Grandfather will be very pleased to see you.”

The Uno looked at the ground and said, “I know.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I would like to mention that there might be a few discrepancies between what we see the delightful children doing in the series and what Father thinks they are doing in my stories. These are not accidental. I figure that the delightful children would try to twist stories around so that it sounds like they are always in the right. They clearly don't always do everything they are supposed to and are willing to attempt to cover it up (such as neglecting their homework, as revealed in Operation ROBBERS) and aren't always willing to tell the whole truth in the hopes of avoiding getting in trouble with Father (such as the reason that the KND put mashed potatoes in the sprinkler system during Operation PARTY). I didn't see any reason why they wouldn't try to get away with other things that they might have done, like starting a fight with Numbuh One when they were supposed to be helping him.
> 
> With no available name for Numbuh One's mom, I decided to call her Katherine.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Grandfather, Father and Numbuh Zero all meet up at Grandfather's house and have a serious discussion over what the old man did to Nigel.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimers: 
> 
> I don’t own Codename: Kids Next Door. It belongs to Tom Warburton.
> 
> The picture I describe in the latter part of this chapter is based off of a piece posted on deviantart.net called Family Photo by Chulala. He has given me permission to use it in my story. I have posted a link at the bottom for anyone who wants to see it. I had to put spaces in it though, in order to get it to show up on Fan Fiction. Despite the portrayal here, I actually like it. I just figure that the character who views it wouldn’t.

Despite the smog blocking the view of the sky, Father could tell by the darkening of his surroundings that it was sunset.  Soon, he would be able to see the lights from the tapioca factories reflecting off the clouds above.  When he was planning for his Pappy’s return, he had told himself that the amount of pollution they had produced was exaggerated in his memory.

Well, he’d also told himself that he’d been exaggerating how miserable his dad made him.  Guess he was wrong on both accounts.  His recollection of his childhood was perfectly fine.

While he had been waiting for Jenkins by the limo earlier, his delightful children had approached him.  They requested permission to accompany him on this trip.

At first, he was going to tell them to not to come but he finally changed his mind for two reasons.  The first was that, if Nigel really did have powers, his children would need to understand that the nature of their current relationship with him, as their greatest enemy, would have to be adjusted.  Nothing would drive that reality home as much as seeing the boy wearing…

Father took a deep breath and readjusted the position of the pipe in his mouth, the thought alone infuriated him but he was well aware of the fact that cars and fire just don’t mix.  He’d had to lose his first car in a fit of rage to get that particular lesson drilled into him.  It made him sick to his stomach whenever he thought of how long it had taken to earn that vehicle.

The second reason he decided to bring his children, although he’d never openly admit it, was that he didn’t want to go alone.

As the mansion that he had grown up in finally came into view, Father had to wince.  When his Pappy was younger, he had kept the building in peak condition by using his powers on it.  When Monty had destroyed those powers, the building had been revealed to be in such a state of disrepair that they couldn’t live in it. 

In one way, the time that followed had been the hardest of Benedict’s life.  In another, it had been the best.  It was a huge relief to finally leave the place which had held such misery for him.  When he was older, after Evil Adult Industries was starting to become successful in improving adult control over children, he had bought up the land with the intent of demolishing the building and constructing a new home there.  He could never bring himself to do it, though.   

Now, the building was restored by Grandfather’s powers to the structure that Father had spent his most of miserable childhood in, like some ghost that refused to be laid to rest.  He felt a shiver run down his spine as the car pulled up to it.

He walked up to the front door with his children in tow.  Glancing at them, he saw that they were huddled more closely together than usual. He couldn’t blame them for being nervous.  Even he was uncomfortable being here but he wasn’t going to let it show.

He turned and rang the bell.

“Just a minute,” his pappy called out.

Father steeled himself for the greeting he expected to get from the senior.  His dad didn’t fail to meet his expectations.  When the door opened, the old man saw who it was, sneered and said, “Oh, it’s you.”

“Good to see you too, dad,” Benedict stated sarcastically.  “I heard that you’re holding that horrible little brat of a nephew in there as your guest, as well.”

“And?”

“I’d like to see him.”

Grandfather looked at him angrily and said, “He’s not awake yet and I doubt he will be until at least some time tomorrow morning.  Come back then and maybe I’ll think about letting you.”

“Is it true dad?  Did you really activate his powers?”  Benedict already knew the answer, but he wanted to hear it from the old man, himself.

“Of course I did.”

“Do you have any idea what you’ve done?”

Grandfather came out and closed the door behind him.  “You know, it was one thing when the ten year old who barely knew me questioned my abilities, it’s completely different when you do it!”  He stated angrily. “Of course I know what I’m doing.”

Ben checked out of the corner of his eye to make sure his children had backed away to what he felt was a safe distance before replying, “Really Pappy because you could have fooled me.  That boy was barely controllable without powers, how do you think it will be now that he has them?”

Grandfather smiled now, “Oh right, an emotionally awakened family member in a time when there were no adults with powers.  You wouldn’t know, would you?”

“Know what?” Father asked, wondering what he might be missing.

“I think it might be better if I showed you than told you,” Grandfather said, once again looking serious.  He held out a hand.

Ben reluctantly clasped hands with his parent.  It was an unusual gesture from the old man.  The moment he did so, he felt a slight tug on his powers but it was easy to shake off.  The old man dropped his hand quickly, as if disgusted to have touched him.

“What was that?”

“I manipulated your powers.”

“You what!?” The younger villain asked, shocked. “You had no right…”

“Oh, stop it, I just showed you the deepest effect I could have on you and you could shake it off easily.”

“If that’s all you can do, I hardly see how it’s going to slow Nigel down.”

Grandfather tucked his hands behind his back and stated, “It will because, for roughly the first year, the blockers that kept me from affecting your powers deeply will not exist.  As you are well aware, children have a natural tendency to misbehave.  That’s hard to do when they can be stopped in their tracks simply by a touch of the hand.”  Then he added, “It doesn’t have to be used to stop them either.  It can also be used to help teach them how to properly use their new abilities but that’s not the point I’m trying to make.  Nigel will be totally under my control and yours, if I decide I need you to do something with him.”

“Surely, it can’t be that simple,” Father blurted out.

“Surely it can.” His dad replied.

Father found himself thinking of what he might have done differently if he had known that little bit of information.  He recalled their first encounter with Sector V roughly a year ago.  If he had known, after he’d heated back up to normal temperature, he’d have probably broken into the KND base, awakened Nigel’s powers and dragged him back to his mansion to break him there.  He was already ten then, which, according to what his pappy used to say, was the generally accepted lower limit for when to awaken powers.  The kid wouldn’t have known what hit him.

On top of that, he probably wouldn’t have even gone through the trouble of reawakening his dad.  By now, he’d have had someone with powers who took orders from him.  Although Nigel would have been weak in respect of being new to his abilities, the skills he’d gained in the Kids Next Door would have more than made up for it.  It’s very possible that Father could have been ruling the world right now without having to share it at all.  How nice to find out about this opportunity half a day too late.

“So, how is he handling it?”  Ben asked after a few moments.

“As I told you, he’s still sleeping.  I think that he’ll probably do well, though.  He seems like a strong willed little rascal.”

Father nodded in agreement and asked, “Did he really insult you like you said?”

“I couldn’t believe that boy.  When I threatened to spank him in front of all the villains for it, he had the nerve to tell me that it wasn’t original enough for him.”

Father snickered and said “That sounds just like him.  One time, when I tried to hit him with a fire ball and missed, he...”

“Hey, now wait a minute, if you had hit him like that before his powers were active, you could have really hurt him.”

“Yeah, that was the idea. Now as I was saying…”

“What do you mean ‘that was the idea!’  That’s your nephew you’re talking about.”  Grandfather was starting to sound angry now.

“He knew what he was signing up for when he joined the KND.  My children told me that they made him bald when they found out.”

Grandfather was about to reply when an agified DOH-DOH came running into view.  Both villains watched as it approached and came to a stop in front of the mansion, scraping the Father’s Limo as it did so, much to the younger man’s horror.  It opened, revealing Monty guarded by two ancient looking soldiers.

Grandfather glanced at Father and snapped, “We’ll talk about this later, you can be sure of that.” Then he looked at his other son and smiled.

* * *

 

 

“Hello, Monty,” Grandfather exclaimed happily.  “I’m so glad you’re here.”

“Where’s my son?” Montgomery Uno asked, getting straight to the point.

“Oh, he’s on the couch in the living room. How was your…”  He trailed off as his eldest son walked right past him.  He watched quietly as the man disappeared into the house, not even pausing to look at his brother, whom looked away guiltily as he passed by.

Grandfather glanced back at the soldiers whom had brought him.  He knew that although turning into citizombies had switched their loyalties to him, it would not have changed their general behavior nor advance their technology.  In fact, it would often do the exact opposite.  He studied the people standing before him.  They were soldiers, no doubt.  Monty’s little group of rebels had grown into a real fighting force over the course of a couple decades.  He would have never foreseen it, looking at that rag tag team he’d had with him when he attacked the factory.

Finally, after studying them for a few moments, he floated over.  They continued to stand at attention until he asked, “So, where’s my duplicate?”  He looked around as he added, “I know I didn’t order him to come back with Monty but I figured he would unless something really important came up.”  

The operatives glanced at each other nervously.  One of them said, quietly, “You tell him.”

“Shouldn’t he hear it from the highest ranking officer present?”  The other responded.

“You’re supposed follow orders from higher ranking operatives,” The first replied.

“You couldn’t pay me enough…”

Grandfather interrupted the argument by saying “one of you better tell me what happened, otherwise you both are going to suffer for it.”

The higher ranking of the two operatives sighed and stepped forward.  “Your copy was destroyed when it attacked the based.”

Surely he’d misheard.  “What did you say?”

“Your duplicate was destroyed before it reached Sector V’s base.”  The terrified operative said.

“That’s not possible,” Grandfather stated.

“Of course it is,” He heard Benedict say behind him.

He turned and glared at his youngest son.  “You aren’t surprised?!”

“Nope, just like I wasn’t surprised when you couldn’t destroy that book.”

“Are we excused?” The lower ranking ex-KND member asked.  He may be loyal to Grandfather now but that didn’t make him any less nervous about being in the company of two very temperamental fire wielders, possibly three, if what the duplicate had said about Numbuh One was true.

“Yes, you’re excused,” Grandfather snapped before continuing to focus on his youngest son.  “Now, what do you mean?”

“C’mon Dad, I was there when Monty found that book.  I’ve been watching as those blasted kids came back into power, for the seventh time since their organization’s creation.  Don’t you think that I would know what they were capable of?  Wouldn’t you suspect that I would have tried to destroy that book myself before I came to you for help?”  He sighed and added, “I may not have been able to destroy that book but at least I was able to keep it out of sight.  There were only a handful of kids who even believed the blasted thing existed.  It wasn’t even a threat until you brought it to everyone’s attention.  Heck, I even tracked down and used a spell it referenced to turn those brats into animals once.  But you know what, when you told me to beat it, I decided to let you make your own mess.”

Grandfather would never openly admit it but he was starting to get an understanding for the reason his grandson had compared him to Ben and expressed disappointment.  Had his youngest son really laid out a plan?  Would it have gone smoother than his approach had?  He did hold most of the world in his grasp now but could his son actually have left him in an even stronger position?  “Look, Ben.  We’ll talk about this around the same time we sit down to discuss your treatment of your nephew.  For now, how about we go in and check on your brother?”

The other Uno nodded and walked in.

Grandfather realized that Benedict had just gotten into the house when he had said he wouldn’t let him in only minutes ago.  Was he slipping or had he underestimated both of his boys?

* * *

 

 

Monty walked into the high ceilinged living room and went straight to the fireplace, which Grandfather had set wood in but not started yet.  At this time of year, the nights were still cool enough that houses benefited from being heated at night and while Grandfather could heat this building with his own powers, it took a lot of energy and concentration.  It was much easier to light a fireplace and let it do the work.

There was furniture arranged around the fireplace.  Two chairs faced him from the far side.  Facing directly toward chimney was a larger chair for Grandfather himself.  It was built so it would match his intimidating figure, whether he was in his silhouette suit or not, at least, it would have when he was younger.  He hadn’t exactly aged well.

The couch was positioned at a right angle to the fireplace, turned away from the entrance.  Monty walked over and looked at the child who was placed there.  Grandfather had put his head on a pillow and given him a blanket, tucking it around him so that only his head showed.  It was covered in the silhouette suit.

He studied it.  Just as with his dad and brother, the overall color scheme was black with a red glow at the edges.  Unlike them, wherever there were areas of his face that would be in shadow under normal circumstances, Monty noticed there was a slight red glow, giving his face a more reddish appearance than either of theirs, although not by much. He also noticed that even though the boy’s mouth was slightly open, no glow issued from it.

After looking at the boy’s face, he pulled back the cover to further examine him.  While he didn’t have wisps on his arms, around his legs were tendrils, much like grandfathers, The red shadow color scheme continued down his body, most noticeable in the folds of his rather wrinkled shirt and on the aforementioned tendrils.

Monty knelt down beside the boy and, gently enough that it wouldn’t disturb the child, tore the outfit off.  It fell away to reveal a child who’d clearly had a rough day.  His clothes were wrinkled and torn and he was covered head to toe in scrapes and bruises. His wrists and ankles had marks where they had probably been bound at some point earlier in the day. He even saw that Nigel didn’t have his shoes or socks.

 “It’s been a rough day all around for you, hasn’t it, Old Bean,” Monty said quietly.  As if in response, the boy shifted his whole body so that he faced his dad as he slept.  Monty kissed the boy on his forehead. The child sighed and, for the first time since he came in, looked comfortable.

Monty covered his son back up and sat on the last cushion of the couch, next to the boys feet.  He looked around the room.  The wall facing the south was covered with windows , as if set up to watch the sunrises and sunsets which were always blocked from view by smog during his childhood.  The rest of the walls each had rows of evenly spaced photos.  In the northern corner of the room, away from the door, was a winding staircase to the next floor.

He finally looked at the Portrait above the fireplace.  Grandfather had ordered the photo be taken only because Monty had begged for a family photo that included his little brother to be placed there.  When Grandfather had originally refused, he’d decided not to speak to him.  It had taken two weeks of silence for Grandfather to give in.  He’d had to face extra hours at the factory each day for the next two months as the price for his victory.

He was disgusted with the resulting picture though.  He struggled to keep his frown from becoming a snarl as he looked at it.  In the center if it was Grandfather with his brown coat and red scarf.  He glared into the camera with glowing yellow eyes as he sat in his favorite chair.  Monty himself was in front of Grandfather but to his right, his hair neatly combed and his new clothes perfectly clean.  Even the tie he had been wearing was scared of being slightly crooked or wrinkled, Monty recalled.  It had taken ten minutes of begging to get the tie to slither up to him and an additional twenty of fighting to get it on because it knew it would be in Grandfather’s presence once it was in place.  He had not smiled for the picture either, he’d been too angry at Ben’s treatment.  His younger brother had ended up being placed behind their dad’s chair, so that a small part of his face was actually concealed from view.  He had a look of sad acceptance, which was not surprising, considering that was the general mood he had been displaying during that time. If there was anything in this house that needed to be burned, he felt it was this picture.  It depicted the miserable family dynamics that had existed in the time shortly before he decided to rebel against his dad.

  Even without looking, he knew when Grandfather finally entered the room, along with Father and the delightful children.

For a few minutes they were all silent.  Finally, Monty broke it by saying, “He didn’t even know he was part of this family until this afternoon, dad.” 

“He could have fooled me,” Grandfather replied moodily.

“At least when it happened to Ben, he’d had his whole life to understand that the possibility was there. Nigel was still getting over the shock of knowing who his relatives were.  He probably didn’t even reach the point of considering if this could happen to him.” 

“Whether he knew it or not, he was born to this family.  Those powers are his birth right.  They were yours, too but as I mentioned when you were younger, there’s a window of opportunity for awakening them.”

“Fourteen or fifteen, Dad. Nigel’s eleven.  You did this to punish me.”

“I will admit that is part of it.”  He came over to stand beside the couch and looked down.  “Monty, it’s dangerous for him not to be wearing his suit while his powers are settling.” He stated, sounding more annoyed than worried, as he reached down, touched the boy and summoned the suit back to him. “I doubt he was exposed long enough to be hurt but If I had been a few minutes later, the boy might have overheated.  Some family members have actually died this way and even those that don’t might not recover completely.  There’s also tales of family members who weren’t able to have kids, most of whom are mentioned as spending an extended time like that during this critical time.”

“What?!” Monty exclaimed, horrified by what he’d been told.

“You heard me, Monty.  Don’t take this off again until he’s awake.  I didn’t choose the name Grandfather in hopes of being the Grandparent to the last living member of our family.”

Behind them, Ben said, “But Monty tore off my suit off for me while I was like this.”

Monty winced as Grandfather glanced at him and said, “This isn’t about you. Besides, it’s not a guaranteed thing, almost half the family members who are exposed for more than a few hours lived full lives and had children of their own. ”

“Wow, almost half!  That makes me feel so much better!” Benedict said in mock joy before adding angrily, “Oh, wait.  No it doesn’t!”

 “I noticed that he’s more reddish than either of you.”  Monty mentioned, changing the subject.

 “Your great gran gram’s suit had that quality, too.”

“Are you really going to change topics?  I think this is rather important.” Father stated.

 Monty gave Benedict a sympathetic look.  He hoped he hadn’t condemned his brother when he took that suit off all those years ago.  He had honestly meant to help his younger brother when he removed it.  He recalled that Ben had even thanked him for it at the time.  He doubted the man was thankful for his actions at that moment.

“Hey, I know something we can do when this mess is all over,”  Grandfather stated, as if Father hadn’t said anything, “ I know exactly where the brat who tried to steal my Gran Gram’s recipe for the greatest cake ever is frozen.  I was going to melt him out and get it so that I could make the cake on Monty’s thirteenth birthday.  I could make some for all of us.”  His smile grew wider as he said, “maybe we’ll even get lucky and finally find out where my aunts were when that blast went off.  I still think that they might be frozen somewhere in all that strawberry flavored mess.” 

Suddenly Ben fell dead silent.  Monty had a feeling there was more to the silence than his anger at being rebuffed by their dad. That was too normal an occurrence to warrant such a sudden reaction.  He felt that this thought was confirmed when the younger villain tore off his suit and lifted his wrist which held his watch.  “Wow!  Is it that time already?  Look dad, I’d really love to stay here and catch up but my little ones do have a bed time and they still have to eat, bathe and do their homework.  I think we really have to go now.”

The delightful children, who had just gotten into a good position to see Nigel, started “But Father…” then fell silent when Father glared at them.

Zero and Grandfather glanced at each other as Father rushed his children out the door.  They continued to stare in the direction the villain had rushed out as they heard tires screeching on the driveway and down the street.

“What do you think that was about?” Grandfather asked.

“He’s probably fed up with how you’re treating him.” Monty replied, although he had a suspicion that there was more to it than that.  He looked down at his son.  “Dad, I know you’re not going to like hearing this but when Nigel wakes up, he’s going to need the sunglasses, so wherever you put them…”

“What makes you think I’m going to give that obnoxious little symbol of rebellion against adulthood back?  Besides, I don’t think any of his light sensitivity will be an issue in this house.” 

If that was Nigel’s only problem, Monty would have probably had to concede to the old mans point.  The building was well lit by their family’s standards, which was creepily dim to most people.  Their family had a long history of problems with the brightness of a sunny day.  He wondered if his Pappy had purposefully designed his factories to spew so much smoke for just that reason.

“Nigel is nearsighted, too,” Monty stated “and the normal pair which he has as a spare is at home, guarded by an armed tree house.”

The villain snarled as he reached for a shelf just above the fireplace but below the painting.  He tossed the object he’d grabbed off of it to Monty.

Monty examined the sunglasses to make sure they weren’t damaged as his dad said, “it’s a good thing you said something because I was planning on melting them down later.”

Monty nodded and looked back at his dad.  “Pappy, could you set up my old bed, I don’t want Nigel to have to sleep on the couch.”

The older man looked at the boy on the furniture and exclaimed, “but he’s been running around all day, doesn’t have fresh clothes and hasn’t even had a bath yet.”

“Then I guess I’ll just have to wash the sheets tomorrow, won’t I?

Grandfather gave Monty an annoyed look as the middle aged man picked up the child but eventually gave an exasperated sigh and rushed up the stairs to make the bed.

As Zero picked his son up, he struggled to get the boy in a comfortable position.  There was no doubt that he was growing up.  Monty remembered the first time he’d held him.  Nine months of waiting to hold 9lb 4oz of smiling baby boy. 

In fact, Nigel had been a very happy, trusting soul right up to when he’d become bald.  Even then, Monty had suspected that the ‘accident’ was no accident but decided to let Nigel come around to telling him what really happened in his own time.  He wondered how this would affect the boy’s personality.

Monty was jarred from his thoughts as the boy’s tendrils started trying to wrap themselves around his torso and arms.  Some of them bunched up the fabric of his shirt in an attempt to grab something.  He readjusted his grip to be sure they wouldn’t do something to loosen his hold. 

As Monty climbed the steps, he couldn’t stop another thought from popping into his mind.  He’d never wanted Nigel to have to deal with powers but now that he had them, he’d have to learn how to correctly use them.  He remembered all the trouble his brother had gotten into when he had first gotten them.  They’d even had to leave behind their second family home because he’d decided to use his flames to make a cake for Monty’s fourteenth birthday.  And by the time they’d grown up, Monty had gotten used to seeing scorch marks or melted spots of any imaginable size on every surface in the house, as well as fire extinguishers in each room.

By the time he made it to the room he and Ben had shared when they were little, the bed was already set up.

“I still think he’s too dirty for the bed.”

“It’s my bed and my boy.  What you say I should do with either is a subject of consideration, nothing more.”  He laid the boy down on the bed and covered him up.

“I could make you bring him back down to the couch.”

“You could, but fighting over such a small detail is below you.”

Grandfather nodded and said “true,” but looked annoyed, nonetheless.

“Dad, my wife Katherine was out in town when Citizombies were coming.”

“Isn’t that the girl who distracted me while you ‘needed to use the bathroom’ ten minutes before you attacked my factory?”

“That’s the one.  Look, I don’t suppose you can see if you could find her and possibly lift your powers away from her.”

Grandfather nodded and said, “I can do that.  Does this mean I can finally expect you to behave yourself?”

“It’s not exactly like I have much of a choice right now, is it?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here is the link to Family Photo on deviantart.net:
> 
> http://browse.deviantart.com/art/Family-Photo- 348155266


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The people at the Sector V base plan their next move

Hoagie was looking for Numbuh Four.  He had a note clutched in his hand.  On it was a message Nigel’s dad had written before leaving.  He had to tell the blonde boy what had happened.

“I don’t believe you,” he heard the familiar Australian accent and looked to see the boy arguing with the Toilenator, who looked quite ticked.  “What you say is just unpossible!”

“Oh, yeah!” the villain exclaimed.  “Well, I’ll prove it.”

“Sure you will,” Numbuh Four said sarcastically, “just like you showed the other villains you could beat us.”

The Toilenator stomped away toward the bathroom, probably to sulk, Numbuh Two suspected.  The pilot walked over to the Australian and asked, “what was that about?”

Numbuh Four turned to him with a satisfied look on his face and said, “you’ll see.”

“What do you mean, I’ll see.”

“I mean you’ll find out later. Now come on, we have a meeting to go to.”

Numbuh Two fell into place beside the other boy as he asked, “did you find Numbuh Zero.”

Numbuh Two handed him the letter as they walked out of the living room and past the communication screen, where Lizzie was currently working with Numbuh Forty Two.  While the tech officer worked the machine, trying to get in contact with other people, Lizzie did the actual talking.  The girl could be disarming when she wanted to be and because she wasn’t a KND operative, if they got in touch with people who were usually enemies, she still stood a better chance of convincing them to cooperate.  They would try to get in touch with as many people as they could before the building went into lockdown and then talk about who they managed to contact. They’d reestablish their connections in the morning with those groups that did not fall in the night.

Numbuh Four looked at the note for a very long time, probably having trouble reading it.  “He went to Grandfather?!”

At this statement, both heads popped up.

“Does that have anything to do with Nigie?” Lizzie asked.  Despite the seriousness of the situation, Numbuh Two saw Numbuh Forty Two attempt to suppress a laugh.  Sector V’s Pilot had a feeling that if they made it through this, that nickname would spread through the KND like dropped ice cream across a sidewalk on a hot day.  Well, if Nigel could get through the mockery that came with losing his hair, he should be able to rise above Lizzie’s nickname.

“His dad is going to be with him,” Numbuh Two said.

At this statement, although Lizzie looked relieved, the Two by Four officer next to her worriedly asked, “you mean Numbuh Zero left?”

So, word had already gotten around about who the man was.  “Yeah, he’s gone.”

“How are we supposed to beat Grandfather without him?” Numbuh Forty Two asked. 

“With help,” Numbuh Four said, “Which we can only get if we can get in touch with other people who are still free.”

Numbuh Forty Two understood the order to get back to work.  Lizzie continued to watch as the two boys left the room, since there was no one on the line at the moment.

* * *

 

 “Are you sure you want to do this?”  Numbuh Five asked as they walked to the situation room.

“Well,” Jessica replied, “you did say you needed one of us to show you how to get to the underground elementary without alerting the citizombies in the area and Laura isn’t exactly the best for sneaking around.”

“Why is it that they’re hanging around there, anyway?”

Do you remember what happen when Nigel Uno was thrown off the swing set last Thursday?”

“Yeah, he landed on a…” she trailed off.

“A prune juice well,” the other girl finished for her.  “Grandfather will probably go nuts over it when his minions tell him and they know it.”

Numbuh Five nodded.  “If that’s the case, then the area underneath the school is probably not even going to be somewhere to hide for very long.”

“You better hope it will be,” the first grader stated seriously as she hugged her stuffed bunny to her.  “Do you know what might happen if that monster finds the Fountain of Youth?”

Numbuh Five thought about it.  The fountain could indeed prove to be a double edged sword.

She looked at the younger girl, impressed by how perceptive she was.  “Numbuh Five doesn’t recall you being like this when we showed up at the chocolate volcano.”

“Well,” she replied, “I hadn’t had time to think about how I almost got Mr. fluffilufigus turned to chocolate, not to mention a couple of fourth graders who came to help us, because I couldn’t stop that greedy candy hoarder,” she stated as she hugged her stuffed bunny.  “I thought I’d even lost Hopsy Mopsy.”  She started crying as she recalled how Hienrich von Marzipan had chocolatized the doll and ate its ear right in front of her.

“It wasn’t your fault,” Numbuh Five said.  “There was nothing you could have done at that point.  And you ended up saving us in the end.”  She didn’t like the thought of what would have happened if she hadn’t, recalling her next encounter with the other candy hunter.

“Only because I was too angry to be scared.”

Numbuh Five studied the other girl for a moment and asked, “How would you feel if I gave you a chance to stop stuff like that all the time?”

The younger girl looked at her, “How would you do that?”

“I’m sure by now you know that this base is owned by a child network called the Kids Next Door, right.”

The other girl nodded, “when Laura mentioned checking to see if the Kids Next Door could help, I remembered the meanie calling you that when he threatened to lower you into the chocolate lava.”

“We are an organization sworn to helping kids everywhere,” older girl said, “and with a word of recommendation from Numbuh Five, you’d have no problem getting into training.”

“I don’t know.”

“Well you don’t have to, right now.  It’s kind of been put on hold due to the fact that almost all the members have been turned to citizombies, anyway.  Just think about it and when we’ve cleared this mess up, you can consider if you want to join or not.”

“Do you really think that we’ll be able to save the world?”

“Numbuh Five thinks that if there’s such things as people with fire powers, volcanos that changes things to chocolate and fountains that make people younger, anything could happen.”

The other girl giggled before replying, “I guess you’re right.”

As they entered the situation room, Numbuh Five looked at the other people whom were assembled there under her request.  They were all using the round couch that surrounded the holographic projector, which currently was off because the power was being routed elsewhere.

 In the spot farthest to the left was Lydia Gilligan, her cane resting against the arm rest beside her.  She would not be going on the mission, just showing them where the Tapioca Truck was parked on a map.

To her right was The Tommy.  All Numbuh Five had to say in order to get him to volunteer was that they needed his help for a very important mission.  At that, he had broken into one of his lame speeches.  “I, The Tommy, who brings justice to justiceless kids, shall help save the tree house so that you all can be saved to fight another fight.  For I am…The Tommy.” As he said this, he was running around the room, twirling his cape full of holes and repositioning his hat, trying to look mysterious, emphasis on trying.

The others she had talked to, besides Jessica, were all KND agents.  The first person she chose from the KND was Numbuh Forty Four B.  The moon base infantry soldier was used to dealing with stressful situations, often doing things from protecting the Moon Base to escorting villains to the Arctic Prison.  She also figured that Numbuh Forty Four A was amongst the elderly group across the street.  It was no secret that the twins were close.  Knowing his brother is probably nearby might tempt him to do something stupid.  He would do much better elsewhere.

Numbuh Five was lucky to find Numbuh Fourteen, the leader of Sector N.  She hadn’t thought to look for her since Numbuh Thirteen was not here, causing problems.  She’d bumped into the other operative and known instantly that she would be perfect for the task at hand.  With one kid who was untrained and one who was used to working alone in the group she was assembling, Numbuh Five needed someone who was used to getting things accomplished, even with teammates who weren’t the most ideal for combat situations.  Sector N still managed to meet minimum quota for successful missions, despite usually having the KND klutz with them.

Finally, there was Numbuh Eighty Five, who was currently trying hard not to be noticed, which was kind of hard with his horrible haircut.  She had been worried that he wouldn’t come when she first went to talk with him.  He hadn’t wanted to leave his little brother.  When she explained the situation to him, he had unwillingly agreed that if nothing was done, Shauni would soon be agified, along with everyone else in the tree house.

She felt sorry for him, the problems that he had to deal with were similar to the hassles Numbuh One had endured when he was bald but hadn’t established himself as a force to be reckoned with yet.  Numbuh Five felt a twinge of guilt over the mistake she’d made all those years ago that cost him his hair.

As Jessica went over to sit with the others, Numbuh Two and Numbuh Four walked in.  The prior looked quite annoyed.  She walked over and asked quietly, “Did you find Numbuh Zero?”

Numbuh Two replied quietly enough that no one else could hear, “No but I did find a disassembled recommisioning module with a note of apology.”

“What?!” she exclaimed quietly.

“He was so sure that Numbuh One would be successful earlier that he took it apart because he didn’t want to be recommissioned again.  There’s no way I’ll be able to reassemble the thing without some time to really sit down and look at it.  It’s surprisingly complicated.”

“And where is he?”

Numbuh Two’s look softened as he said, “he couldn’t leave Numbuh One all by himself if he’s… you know.”

Numbuh Five understood but felt conflicting emotions.  Despite being upset that he left, she said.  “I think having his dad close will really help him.  He needs someone who’s not a fire throwing psycho.”

Numbuh Two sighed heavily, “yeah, I know.  I’m still upset that he broke the recommisssioning module, though.”

* * *

 

 Tommy watched from his spot beside his Grandma as Hoagie talked with Numbuh Five.  He hadn’t been able to take his eyes off of his big brother since he walked into the room.  He was definitely angry about something.  The younger boy wondered what it was.

Then Numbuh Four walked to the podium, looking uncomfortable there.  Tommy suspected that it was because it was the place where the missing member of Sector V would usually stand.  The blonde boy waited a moment for Numbuh Fourteen and Numbuh Forty Four B, who were chatting away, soon looking annoyed.  He cleared his throat but they continued to ignore him.  Finally, he said, “We don’t have all night to wait for you to stop talking about how this might delay the newest set of Yipper Cards or the next Rainbow Dorkey Movie.  You were called in here for an important mission but if you’d rather chat the evening away, I’ll tell Numbuh Five to find someone else.”

They fell silent, although Numbuh Fourteen looked offended at Numbuh Four, calling Rainbow Monkeys dorkeys. 

Tommy smiled and asked, “What are we gonna do?  What is this special mission?”

“If you’d shut up, I could tell you,” the Australian exclaimed angrily.

After confirming that Tommy would indeed be silent, he began.  “We have a major problem.  Although we currently have a few hamsters in our generator, I’m sure you all know that they are not enough to run this base, even at minimum power.”  Both the KND operatives and Tommy nodded.

“The reason the base is working is because Numbuh Two’s Grandma was able to set up a tapioca powered generator and brought enough tapioca to keep it running.”  He glanced at her before continuing.  “As the base is currently running, we will run out around midnight.”

“And what do you expect us to do, break into one of Grandfather’s factories?”  Patrick asked, incredulously.  “Such a mission would be…”

“I’m not finished,” Numbuh Four cut in.  “Hoagie’s Grandma knows where there may be some that’s not guarded by citizombies and we have a plan to buy more time.”

The kids settled down, allowing him to continue.  “She will tell us where the Tapioca is and you will go out and find it.”  For a moment, everyone looked at her.

“We need a small group that can move undetected.”  Numbuh Four stated.

“You mentioned a way to save power?” Tommy queried, as interested in learning details about how the base function as in knowing how much time they would have to complete their mission.

“I’ll let Numbuh Two explain that.”

Hoagie nodded and said, “We are going to lock down the base for the night.  No one will be able to get in or out tonight.  It will buy us time but we will need the tapioca here at dawn.  Any earlier and you won’t be able to get in, any later and there probably won’t be a base to come back to.”

Numbuh Four continued where he left of, “As some of you realize, that leaves a few hours extra.  You are not only going to get the Tapioca but you’re also going to the secret school under Gallagher Elementary.  You will meet up with the rebel group hiding there.  They will get a portion of the Tapioca and you will stay there to help them set up defenses.  Someone will meet you there to deliver the supplies back here.”  Numbuh Two and Numbuh Five looked surprised at this statement.

Tommy rolled his eyes. They were getting rid of him.

Numbuh Four continued by asking, “Mrs. Gilligan, has Numbuh Five already given you a map?”

The old woman nodded.

As they discussed the location where the SCS had left the truckload of tapioca, and his Grandma brought out the map to show everyone where they would need to go, Tommy sulked.  After all the help tonight, Sector V was still getting rid of him.  And here he thought that things were going to be different this time.

After they established where they would be going, Numbuh Four said, “Numbuh Fourteen, I’d like to talk with you about the exchange later.  Tommy will go with Hoagie and everyone else will go with Numbuh Five.  Be at the elevator entrance in the living room in fifteen minutes.

As the meeting was called to a close, Tommy walked over to Hoagie. “C’mon, we’d better get you a tool kit.”

As they walked down the halls, for a few minutes the younger boy was silent.  Finally, they reached the door with the Number Two on it and the younger boy asked in a hurt, angry tone, “Why are you sending me away?”

Hoagie turned to his younger brother and said, “Do you think I want to send you out there, Tommy?  I didn’t even know that you were going to be picked to do this until I saw you sitting there.”  He took a moment to calm down as he opened his door and entered the room before saying, “But it makes sense.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”  Tommy whined as he followed.

“It means that you will be more useful there than you are here.”

“Because I get in the way?”

“No, that’s not why.”

 “Sure it’s not. You know it’s funny, I go through all this work so I can spend time with you and now it seems like we spend even less time together than before I tried to join the KND.  It’s just not fair!”

“I know.”  Hoagie said as he dug through his stuff, trying to find the spare set of tools.

“I don’t get it.  I’ve been nothing but helpful this evening and you guys still want get rid of me.”

Hoagie turned and said, “That’s exactly it, you’ve been a huge help.  Make no mistake; you’re being rewarded for it. When you get to the school, you will be the head mechanic there.  You know very well that you don’t have a chance of that here.  I hold that position and we both know that I am still more experienced than you and will be to the day I’m decommissioned.”

The boys paused for a moment in their argument, thinking about the horrors of decommissioning and how it would probably change their lives.  Tommy was even worried that, because he’d received KND training, he might end up on that schedule, despite no longer being part of the Kids Next Door.

Finally, Tommy said, “I wanted to join the Kids Next Door so that I could spend more time with you.  Now we spend less than ever together.  It’s not fair!”

Hoagie sighed as he looked through his stuff. For a moment the younger boy thought he wasn’t going to respond, and then he said, “I’m actually kind of glad you didn’t end up in Sector V, Tommy.”

Tommy was shocked by what he’d heard. “Why not?!” the boy asked.

“I love hanging with my friends but our team gets some of the most dangerous missions of the KND.  Cleveland is the central hub of Villain activity.  For goodness sake, we fight the delightful children almost weekly and we are right next to the Delightful Mansion.  Now, I’ve just found out that my best friend and sector leader is related to Father and Grandfather.  And there’s other things, too.  Tommy, there are secrets Sector V has... dangerous secrets that not even the rest of the KND knows about.”

Tommy could see that his big brother was being serious by the look on his face.  He felt goose bumps as he wondered what type of secrets his big brother could be referring to. Maybe he’d look into it when all this was over.

“Here it is, Hoagie exclaimed, snapping Tommy out of his thoughts.  He placed a regular looking, slightly rusty toolbox on the table.  “This is the first tool box I made for myself after I joined the Kids Next Door.  It’s not as shiny as the stuff I have now but basically all the same gear.”

He pushed it over to his little brother and said, “This thing has helped me build all sorts of equipment.  It’s yours now.  I’m sure you’ll find it useful.”

Tommy picked it up carefully and looked at it.  He was about to open it when Hoagie said.  “There’s no time for that right now.  You have to report to the armory, to get gadgets from Numbuh Five.”

The younger boy nodded and rushed out the door.

* * *

 

 As Tommy left the room to meet up with the rest of the group, another visitor came in.  A familiar hamster jumped up on the boy’s worktable, placed the spray bottle down and struck a heroic pose as it smiled at Hoagie. The boy laughed, his mood lifted a little by the hamsters antics.

Hoagie smiled and said, “Good job out there.”  He pulled out a bag of cheese puffs and offered a few to the rodent, who happily took them and started nibbling on one.

Joaquin waved one cheese powder covered paw, as if to say it was no big deal.

“No, I’m serious.  Grandfather is a big deal.  I will admit though, I didn’t expect the fountain of youth water to be that effective.”

The hamster giggled at the statement.

“How did you even get free from his powers anyway.”

The hamster paused for a minute, thinking.  Then he disappeared from the table for a few moments, only to come back with a ball of lint.  He shaped it into a bunny, held it to his chest and then moved as if he was trying to be stealthy.  Then he put the doll down, turned around, sucked in his gut, hunched over his back and squeaked.  He dropped the stance, picked up the piece of lint again, gave out a high pitched hamster imitation of a scream and pointed the water bottle at where he’d been standing.

After Hoagie stopped laughing at the hamsters shenanigans, he said, “You were sprayed with fountain of youth water by Jessica.”

Joaquin nodded as he began to eat the next cheese puff.  The fur around his mouth already dusted with orange powder.

Hoagie smiled and said, “well, I’ve got a distraction to set up.  Then I’m going to prepare for a lock down and I suggest you do the same.”  With that, the boy left the room.

Joaquin knew that the boy meant that he would be needed to help power the base tonight but he had other plans.  The hamsters couldn’t keep up this pace forever and they weren’t going to have an easy time catching their brethren who were partying to sousaphone music in the house resting on the trees roots. 

He had a plan, though. He turned and signaled to the corner of the room where two more hamsters were hiding.  Out of the shadows came the hamsters who’d temporarily stood in for Numbuh Four and Numbuh Five when they’d gotten injured, the only remnants of the small replacement group who were not agified.

As they approached, he motioned for them to follow.  They had to make it to the roof before the lock down was initiated.  They couldn’t waste time trying to chew their way out of a wall.

* * *

 

Hoagie headed directly up to the artillery room.  Once there, he and a few other operatives waited for the order to begin.  When the stealth team left the base, the eyes of the citizombies would need to be elsewhere.  Hoagie was going to make sure that they were.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Since the events of Operation Zero seemed to happen somewhere early in Season 6 but I couldn’t figure out exactly where, I’ve decided to draw the line for what happened beforehand at Operation RECESS/ Operation HAMSTER.
> 
> In Operation END, after most of Sector V was decommissioned, they thought the idea of the KND sounded absolutely nuts. I don’t think the decommissioning chamber would go that far if the organization’s existence was common knowledge among most people.


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Plans are made at the Convention Center
> 
> Sector V sends out a team and goes into lockdown

At the Convention Center, the duplicate that Grandfather had assigned with trying to destroy the indestructible book and communicating with the general public was listening to Mr. Boss and Number Three Sixty Two.  The villain and former Supreme Leader were arguing over the best way to tear down the KND Tree House across town.

Not only had a report of the other duplicates failure been sent there but they also received footage of the absolutely miserable failure.  Never, in all of Grandfather’s existence, had a duplicate been dispensed of so quickly… or at all, for that matter.  Oh well, at least they had Monty now, which was a victory in itself.

Immediately after, the elderly woman who had lead the army of kids earlier that day had ordered that Sector V’s Tree House Schematics be brought to the convention center.  Mr. Boss had made similar requests for anything that could be found for the area around the building, including the structure of nearby homes, the configuration of the power grid and the pipes nearby.  They were now comparing their notes as they tried to come up with a plan to overcome the Sector.

The duplicate felt that this was far more important than the assignments his original had given him, earlier on.  When the orders were given out to play catch up on general information, they hadn’t expected the other doppelganger to fail.   Besides, he’d much rather be planning a fight anyway.

Then, suddenly, another duplicate came crashing through a wall.  Everyone glanced and looked at the newcomer.  “Do you even understand the concept of a door?”  The ex-supreme leader asked when she recovered from her own shock.

The duplicate gave her an annoyed look and said, “If I was the original, you’d be fired by now but he’d be upset if I acted without his permission.”

“Oh, you poor thing.  How can you stand it, having to defer to someone else?”  She said sarcastically.

The Duplicate who had already been in the room wasn’t shocked by her ability to shoot defiant comments at the other duplicate.  He suspected it was a combination of irritation at working with enemies, tiredness from working all day and, possibly, some small part of her fighting the agification, even though the battle was lost.  She was very good at making comments that hurt, too.  He would never tell her, but he and all the other dopplegangers hated taking commands… even if it was technically from themselves.  Of course, they couldn’t do anything about it because any of them can just be replaced with another duplicate.  As he exchanged a look with the other duplicate, he could tell that it was thinking along the same lines.

“So,” he said, floating up to the newest duplicate, “what brings you here?”

“Orders from home,” the other said, probably rolling his eyes.

“What orders?”

“Well, for starters, Grandfather wants a search party put out for Monty’s wife. He said that the woman was probably at a salon when she got agified.”

“Women and their beauty products.”

“I hear you.”  The other stated and continued, “He also said that he wants you to gather information on his grandson.  If he’s going to get Nigel to cooperate, he’ll need to know how to push his buttons.”

“Understandable.”

“Finally, I was going to tell you that you’ve been put in charge of coming up with the next attack plan but you’ve already gotten that taken care of.”

“Well, now that that’s settled, I have something for you to do, too.”

At this statement the other one crossed his arms and looked annoyed.  “What might that be?”  He asked through clenched teeth.

“We got a call from the elementary school.  They say they might have found something interesting there.  They’re even routing some supplies that way even though it hasn’t been authorized.  Would you chew them out for acting against orders, even with good intentions and then verify that what they are doing is actually worth the effort.”

“For goodness sake!  How hard is it to understand what they need to do?  There’s taking over the world and making tapioca.  It seems pretty cut and dried to me!”

“Tell me about it.  It gives me a headache whenever I think about it, too.”

“I’ll go deal with it.”  With that, the duplicate shot out of the hole next to the door. 

After a few moments, the remaining duplicate looked at the audience and asked, “Alright, who wants to organize the search for my daughter-in-law.”  Because it was a request from Grandfather, every Citizombie felt the urge to volunteer.  Everyone in the audience tried to yell over each other to get the ancient being’s attention.

“Be Quiet!” He yelled.

Number Three Sixty Two raised her hand, like a child in a classroom.  Grandfather signaled to her and she said, “Sir.  I would like permission to organize this search.  My Global Tactical Officer is perfectly capable of planning out this attack with Mr. Boss and let’s face it, you want an excuse to be rid of me as much as I want a reason to work somewhere else.”

“I plan on having you gather information the KND has on Nigel.”

“All that takes for me is a call to Moon Base.  People up there will find it and bring it to you.”

“Fine, then, you may have this assignment but if you fail at any of it, the consequences will be dire.”

“Understood sir.”

“Good.  Now that that’s settled, how many villains here have had personal encounters with my grandson?” At this, the majority of the people in the room raised their hands.  The boy had clearly been busy.  “Alright, then.  I want reports only from those of you whom have do deal with him more than once a month.” As the audience started talking all at once again, he said, “oh for goodness…Documented Reports!”

Suddenly, a figure appeared in the doorway and yelled “hasn’t anyone noticed there have been no reports whatsoever about what’s happening with the Teenagers!”  Everyone turned to see Cree Lincoln standing in the middle of the doorway, looking mighty ticked.

* * *

 

 

Numbuh Eighty Six was rushing to her personal DOH-DOH.  She wanted to get over to the convention center as soon as possible.  Even as a Senior Citizombie, she was excited about getting her first real assignment as the Head Global Tactician.

Just as she climbed into the cockpit, some activity came from Sector V’s base.  A large ray gun moved and shot a laser into the middle of the road, which was currently a ‘no man’s land’ between the base and the citizombie camp across the street.  As the redhead watched, along with the other citizombies, whom had stopped what they were doing to see the show, she realized what she was seeing.

Sector V was drawing a line in the sand and telling them not to cross it. 

When the machine shut off, Numbuh Eighty Six yelled, “What are you all standing around for?  Get back to work!”  Then she closed the cockpit, turned on her machine and made a B-line for the convention center.

So, Sector V of the Kids Next Door was now feeling confident enough to challenge their authority.  Well, they’d pay dearly for their little statement.

* * *

 

 

“Do you think they got past the Citizombies?”  Numbuh Two asked.

“If they didn’t, we’ll be joining them in the morning,” Numbuh Five replied.

“Do you have guards posted by the hole in the living room?”

“And shifts ready to switch.  We put some batter powered guns pointing out from there.  We’ll have a good view of the lawn.”

Hoagie continued to stare out into the dark silently.

“Worried?”

“Yes,” Hoagie looked at her and said, “I just sent my little brother out there, what do you expect?”

“Don’t worry, The Tommy may be annoying but he can look out for himself.”

“Yeah, I know but he’s still my baby brother.”

Abby looked at her friend and wondered if Cree had conversations with her own team mates when she was still Numbuh Eleven of the Kids Next Door and Abby got picked for her first solo spy missions.  Could it possibly be a reason that she had ended up in Sector V in the first place?  Because her big sis couldn’t stand the thought of letting her out of sight?

“Come on,” Hoagie said, “We have to put the base on Lock Down quickly if we are going to make it to dawn.

Numbuh Five took one last glance out the window before turning back into the base.

* * *

 

 

“Joey, what are you doing in here…and where’s your diaper?”  Wally asked he came into the control room to find his baby brother crawling around in the nude.  It seemed to happen all the time now.  When he complained to his mom a couple weeks ago, she said that he was just going through a phase and he’d grow out of it.  When Wally had said that it was embarrassing, his mom countered by showing him a picture of him doing a dance like his little brother had done during the butt busting competition, in front of several smiling adults who were probably thinking he was so cute, with the Sydney Music Hall in the background.  She promptly said, “You sure didn’t seem to think so when you were his age.” 

At the sound of his big brother’s voice, Joey turned, gurgled cutely and got up to walk a few steps toward his brother only to fall down again, landing on his rear.  Rather than get up again he crawled the rest of the way to his big brother. 

As Joey motioned to be picked up, Wally whined, “I really don’t have time for this!” but obliged to the naked baby’s silent request anyway, “Numbuh Two and Numbuh Five will be here any minute to begin the lockdownification and then I’ve got an important meeting.  I don’t have time to be taking care of you, too.” 

Then Wally looked at the control console to see a familiar article of clothing hiding the buttons from view.  “There it is.”   He grabbed the diaper, made sure it was clean and laid Joey on his back on the floor and tried to put it on as the baby wriggled and giggled.

He heard some snickering from the doorway and looked to see the operatives he had been waiting for.  “What are you laughing at?”  He asked before glancing back in time to see Joey trying to crawl off.  “You get back here,” he said, grabbing his brother, who wasn’t quite out of arms reach yet and started putting the diaper on again, “and stop taking this thing off.” 

The baby giggled in response as Wally picked him up again, diaper in place, for the moment.

The older boy then looked at his teammates and asked, “Are we ready?”

“As ready as we’ll ever be,” Numbuh Five said, as Numbuh Two silently stood there, still smiling as if he was still fighting down another laugh.

“If you make one cruddy joke about this, you’ll be sorry.”

“Numbuh Five’s going to punch in the code and start the lockdown now.” Numbuh Five stated as she walked over to the machine and turned it on.  The screens glowed blue as she typed something on the keyboard.

Numbuh Two came to her side, preparing to play his role in the lockdown activation as the machine stated, “You have requested emergency code L 62, the Lockdownification.”

“Kids Next Door Operative Numbuh Five, Second in Command of Sector V.”

“Kids Next Door Operative Numbuh Two, Two by For Technology Operative of Sector V.”

“Confirmed. Please verify genetic code.”

As they did this, Wally watched, still holding Joey, whose attention was also being held by the scene.

“Warning, scanners detect a breach that the Lockdownification protocol will be unable to close.  Do you still wish to proceed?

“Proceed!” Numbuh Two and Numbuh Five both ordered.

 “Authorization accepted, Commencing Tree house Lockdownification.” As it stated this, the screens became so bright that they were almost blinding, then dimmed to their previous level as the sounds of scraping and slamming metal echoed throughout the tree house, as all doors and windows to the outside of the tree house closed.

The lights throughout the building switched to a dim glow and a few moments later all non-security and non-lighting devices within the building shut down. 

At the sudden change, Joey started bawling, scared by noises he’d heard and the flash of the computer screen followed by the darkening of the room.  Similar sounds drifted to them from other parts of the tree house, where the other babies were being startled as well.


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The team Sector V sent out ventures into enemy territory.

Tommy was on high alert as he followed the others while they moved quietly across the street. He put his hand on his brother’s tool box.  It was strapped on to the side of the belt that had The Tommy’s really cool super ultra-effective gadgets.  Unlike the tools adult mechanics would use, the KND had designed theirs so that they were lightweight as well as strong, allowing them  to move rapidly to where ever they might be needed during a fight.  The gear in Hoagies Toolbox was no exception.

The group was approaching the parking lot where the sixteen wheeled Tapioca truck should be, hidden amongst similarly sized vehicles with Lime Ricky’s soda advertisements on them. It had taken them almost two hours to get here, but other than some achy feet from the pace they had held, there had been no problems during their journey. 

As they approached the gate they saw it was locked, just as his Grandma had said it would be.  Apparently, she had used a hairpin to spring the lock earlier and relocked it afterward.

Tommy had a homemade lock pick tucked in his pocket.  He pulled it out, opened the lock again and pulled the chain off of the gate.  They approached the trucks and started looking between them for one that did not advertise fizzy drinks.

“It’s over here,” Numbuh Fourteen called out  after a few minutes. 

By the time Tommy found it, everyone else except Numbuh Forty Four B had already arrived and were standing by a truck that had the same build as the others but a different color scheme.  The designs couldn’t be seen from the road but from his vantage point, with the light from the lamp posts, Tommy could see the advertisement for the snack that Grandfather was now producing in ridiculously high amounts.  It appeared that these snacks were in little cups with that plastic wrapper on the top that you had to pull the tab back to peel off.  He had a feeling that Grandfather’s workers were not putting their products in this type of container; they’re too small.

“Where’s Numbuh Forty Four,” Numbuh Fourteen asked. 

“Grabbing a six pack.” Numbuh Eighty Five stated, sounding extremely annoyed. Tommy shared this sentiment.

Numbuh Fourteen sighed in frustration and said, “Come on, let’s check and make sure everything is still in the back.

They went to the back of the truck and opened it.  Jessica turned on a flashlight and pointed it inside, revealing boxes upon boxes.  Tommy climbed in and cut open a box with a pocket knife he had gotten for a birthday present.  As he looked in, he scrunched his face up in disgust.

“Is it in there?”  Numbuh Eighty Five asked.

“Yeah,” Tommy said.  “I’m just sick of looking at the stuff.”

“I think we all are.”  Numbuh Fourteen stated, “but we need it to keep the base running.”

“I know but still…”

Suddenly, flashlights clicked on behind the others, blinding Tommy, who was staring directly at them.  “Well, well, well.  What do we have here.” an elderly voice said.

“Hi Tommy,” he heard an elderly woman call out.

“Sonya?” Tommy called out.  “Is that you?”

“Yup. Long time no see!”

“I see you’ve gotten over your fear of the dark, congratulations.”

* * *

 

“Not completely but the anger I felt at seeing a bunch of unagified little kids running around seemed to override my fears.  I have been improving though.  Maybe I’ll talk to you about it after we turn you into a citizombie.”

"I think I’ll pass on the being turned into a citizombie part,” Tommy replied.

“You don’t have a choice,” the first voice called out angrily.

“So is Lee here, too?” Tommy asked, acting as if the other citizombie hadn’t said anything.

“Present and accounted for,” another voice called out.

“Shut up!” the first voice yelled.  “We didn’t follow these kids for half an hour to socialize, we were trying to get an opportunity to corner them and agify them.”

“Hello, Numbuh Three Sixty Three,” Numbuh Eighty Five called out, sounding a little annoyed as he pulled out a spray bottle. 

“Oh,” the other person, Number Three Sixty Three, called out.  “A spray bottle, I’m so scared!”  He said.

“Well I’d imagine.” Patty replied.  “I mean, you’d actually have to touch us to change us.  I’ll bet you’re the only citizombie in this city that hasn’t actually agified anyone!”

“Am not!”

“So who’d you agify then, Harvey?”

Number Three Sixty Three growled and yelled, “get them.”

Then the two groups leaped into action.

As Tommy ran forward, he saw Sonya get sprayed in the face by Numbuh Eighty Five and go from being sixty to somewhat younger than six in half a second.  At the same time, two yoyos shot out of the darkness.  One wrapped around Jessica and her doll as the other barely missed Numbuh Fourteen, who flipped over the string.

Tommy leapt off the back of the truck next to the Jessica.  He took a small saw off his belt and cutting her loose only to feel the yoyo that had missed Numbuh Fourteen earlier wrapped around his legs as the other one snapped.  His legs were pulled out from under him as the strand was tugged by Lee, who chose that moment to step into view.  He was taller than tommy had been when he was agifed and had a little more muscle tone as well, although, in all honesty, neither fact was surprising.  Tommy knew he’d been a rather scrawny old man.

Grasping the spray bottle in her right hand as she clutched her rabbit  to her chest with her left, Jessica pointed it at the old man and said, “Don’t you dare take one step closer, you big meany.”

Both Tommy and Lee glanced over at Number Three Sixty Three and the other kids who were trying to get close enough to spray him while dodging shots from his agified S.C.A.M.P.P. (Soup Can and Magnified Photon Phlaser).  He may have been a good shot but it was clear that he wouldn’t be giving Lee a hand any time soon.

“Do it Jessica,” Tommy yelled.

She sprayed but Lee stepped back, just out of range.  Tommy started using his spinning saw to cut himself loose as Lee tried to look for a gap to exploit.  As he rolled to get up, Lee found his opening, picked Jessica up and put a hand on his shoulder.  The Citizombie’s power spread across one of his arms as he reached for his spray bottle with the other.  It had reached his chin as he pointed and as he pulled the trigger, he found himself regretting it for a split second as Grandfathers power tickled at the corners of his conscience.  The moment was broken as the water hit Lee and Jessica as well as splashed back on him a little.  A three year old Lee landed in Tommy’s lap and a Jessica turned preschooler landed on her rear and winced.

“Nice Shot!” Lee said and then asked, “I’m not going to be stuck like this, am I?”

“It’ll wear off in a few minutes.”

“Don’t touch me!”  A voice called out, causing the three kids to look back at the others.  There was now one citizombie left and a much too young Sonia was taking full advantage of the boy’s fears by standing in his way and trying to grab him.  It was bizarre to see a citizombie trying to avoid a kids touch, rather than the other way around. 

She herded him right into range of Numbuh Eighty Five’s and Fourteen’s spray bottles and they sprayed him. He was so startled that he jumped.  Because he shrank as a result of losing age, he wasn’t ready when he finally reached the ground and yelped as he landed awkwardly.  The boy, now little more than a baby, clutched his ankle and started crying loudly.

Numbuh Fourteen walked over and tried to shush the boy as Numbuh Eighty Five tried to get his attention.  “Numbuh Three Sixty Three.  Look at me Numbuh Three… Harvey!”  The other boy fell silent as he looked at the team mate whom had called his name.  Now, more quietly, boy with the poorly cropped hair said, “If any of the Citizombies hear you, they will touch you again to turn you into one of them.  So you need to calm down and be quiet.  Okay?”

He nodded, although he looked a little flustered at being told what to do.

Once Harvey had complied, he continued, “Now I want you to let me look at your ankle…” The other boy’s reaction was immediate.  He tried to hide injured limb under the other leg, wincing as he did so.  “No don’t slip it under you, I won’t touch it unless you say it’s okay. I promise…”  Numbuh Three Sixty Three stretched his leg out and Numbuh Eighty Five looked at it, not reaching out at all.  “Now do you have the piece of cloth that we talked about carrying?”

“Yeah.”  Harvey replied. As he pulled something out of his pocket and handed it out to the other boy. 

By now, Tommy, Lee and Jessica had come over to get a better look as Patty placed the cloth over both hands, completely covering them.   “Patty’s our medic,” Lee said quietly. 

“May I,” Patty asked the other boy.

Numbuh Three Sixty Three nodded but ground his teeth as the boy started feeling his ankle through the cloth.  He clenched his hands and growled, to which the boy with the disastrous doo replied, “just hang in there.”

Suddenly, a voiced behind them queried “What did I miss?”  Everyone looked to see Numbuh Forty-Four B with three six-packs of soda he had stacked on his arms.

They all glared at him angrily for a moment but it was Numbuh Fourteen finally sarcastically replied, “Nothing important, just a big fight against some citizombies.”  She looked back at Numbuh Eighty Five and said, “I’m going to leave you with Numbuh Three Sixty Three while we get our ride turned on.”   She slid the loading door closed and made her way to the front of the truck.

Tommy followed her and as she opened the door. He said, “There isn’t enough room for all of us in the front, with three extra kids. We were already going to be pushing our luck with five.”

“And what would you suggest, Tommy?”  The girl asked, sounding ticked.

“That Three Sixty Three kid’s ankle is too sore for him to make it on foot but his teammates are alright.  I’ve worked with them before.  If they’re willing, we could go by foot while the rest of you take the truck.  I was thinking that Jessica could show us roughly where the secret entrance to the school is on the map and you could post a lookout for when we show up. That way, if we make it, we can be led in and if we get captured and agified, we won’t be able to tell the Senior Citizombies everything.”

Numbuh Fourteen looked up from her work and said, “We can’t sacrifice you Tommy, you’re technological skills are too important for this mission.  We’ll assign Numbuh Forty- Four B to lead them.  He has plenty of Field experience.”

“I do, too.  just not through the KND.”

Suddenly, behind Tommy, a familiar voice said, “and we’ve never worked with Numbuh Forty Four before.” He looked back to see Lee and Sonia.  The latter of the two, whom had already returned to her normal age, was the one who’d made the statement.

Numbuh Fourteen jumped down from the truck, “Are you going to argue with my decision when I outrank you?”

“With all respect,” Lee stated, “you aren’t our team leader.”

At that moment they heard a shout of “Don’t touch me!”  from the back of the truck.  Tommy was interested in how they would figure out how to move the grumpy operative with a sprained ankle without any physical contact.

“Look,” Tommy said, “That boy back there needs to be in the truck because he can’t walk to the school.  Jessica has to because she’s the only one who knows where the school’s secret entrance is and while she seems like she might have the proper instincts for fighting, she lacks experience.  I know all the sneaky ways to move around in this neighborhood, I’ve stopped a lot of bullying here.”

“And we know where the Citizombies are most likely to be,” Lee said.

“As does Numbuh Three Sixty Three.” Sonya added, “he’ll be able to help you drive the truck without being detected.”

Numbuh Fourteen looked at Tommy and said, “You are the only child here with an advanced understanding of two by four technologies.  We are bringing you to the school for a reason.  Getting you there is a priority second only to getting this Tapioca back to the base.”

Suddenly, a voice from the back of the truck said, “my sister said to never put all of your eggs in one basket.”  Everyone turned and looked at Three Sixty Three, who was leaning against the back of the truck.   He continued by stating, “Just because this truck will be the quickest way to wherever you’re going doesn’t mean it’s the safest.  A truck driving down the street is easier to see than kids on the ground and my team has never failed at a mission yet. Getting a nerdy two by four expert to the school should be easily accomplishable even without me leading.  Take Numbuh Eighty Five, too.  Tommy may not have worked with him but Numbuh’s eighty three and eighty four have.”

Numbuh Fourteen sighed.  She knew that an order from the commanding officer from one’s own team would always trump those given by the leader of a different sector, unless a higher ranking member, like the Supreme Leader, said otherwise.

* * *

 

             

As the hamsters traveled through the limbs in the cold, cloudy night, their senses picked up many unfamiliar things.  At one point, a moth had flown overhead just to be swiped up by a flying animal that they couldn’t make out well in the dark. The hooting noise would start up on occasion sometimes, too and the scared rodents would find themselves trying to peer through the darkness around them to discover the source of the noise. No hamster had ever travelled through this part of the tree.  It was almost as if there was some unspoken rule, some invisible boundary which the small mammals dared not cross. 

Well, the barrier was crossed tonight.  The others, both hamsters and children, needed help.  The humans had something planned but stuff has gone wrong before and the hamsters always picked up the slack if they could.  That was why the hamsters behind him even had any skills at all.  Joaquin recalled how upset he had been that he couldn’t be one of the ones to go out on the missions when the humans were injured but he’d had responsibilities to the other hamsters in the base, so he stayed behind.

That wasn’t the case tonight though.  Tonight the very same responsibility is what placed him out on these limbs.

He jumped from one leafy stick to another on a nearby branch, momentarily losing his grip and slipping before he caught hold of an offshoot of the structure.  He pulled himself up and moved so that the others could come across.

As they ran along to some of the larger limbs, they noticed nooks and crannies where soil had actually built up from decayed leaves.  Often, there would be a few small green plants or mushrooms growing in these spots; it also seemed like a popular hangout for insects.  In the one that they passed as they stepped onto a limb large enough that an adult human could stand on it, there were a cluster of mushrooms that actually gave off a soft glow.

The three rodents paused for a moment to look, fascinated by the sight.  Then something caught Joaquin’s attention.  He turned his head in time to see something large moving toward them out of the sky.  He squeaked, startling the others and they all scattered, the hamster that had replaced Numbuh Four just barely getting out of the way as the creatures claws clamped into the wood where his head had been.  As Joaquin looked at its back, he saw that it was a feathered creature, kind of like the chicks that they had shared their home with for a short time, but at the same time, very different.   Then it rotated it’s head further than seemed possible, so that it was looking right at him.  This allowed him to see that it had a beak, also similar to but different from the baby birds he’d been reminded of.  The mushrooms glow reflected in its huge eyes as it looked at him.

Then it glanced at something behind him and clicked its beak threateningly.  A long, thin object flew over his head and hit the bird, bouncing off of its beak.  It turned it’s head so that it faced forward again and flew off into the night as more of the objects were thrown at it, taking off and vanishing as quickly as it had appeared.

Joaquin saw that the other hamsters were now staring at the space behind him.  He turned around to see seven rodents whom were more than twice their size, glaring down at them and pointing spears in their direction.  He smiled nervously and spread out his arms to show that he was unarmed.  He knew the other hamsters behind them had done the same.

The guinea pigs took out lengths of some type of twine started moving toward them, while the others took up positions to prevent them from escaping if they tried to make a run for it. Joaquin forced himself not to struggle.   As his front paws were bound behind him, he found himself hoping he hadn’t just made a big mistake.

* * *

 

 

Tommy watched as the truck disappeared around the corner and wished the others luck.  He turned and looked back at the three other kids who’d been left to get him across town.  Numbuh Eighty Five was temporarily put in charge by Numbuh Three Sixty Three, since he would not be present. 

Each kid had a soda in hand, a gift from the drinks that Numbuh Forty four B had stolen.  Tommy had already finished his own.   He reached into his bag and grabbed a chocolate bar that had been packed amongst his supplies.  He found himself longing for his mom’s cooking.  Her soups were good for warming people up, her pot roasts were to die for and she could even make vegetables like broccoli taste good.  No point in thinking about that now though.

Tommy smiled at Lee and Sonya and said, “It’s nice to be working with you again.”

Lee nodded and Sonya said, “We’ve really missed you.”

“I bet you’ve gone on some pretty cool missions.”

“Yeah, we currently hold the highest success streak of all the sectors, too.  We haven’t failed one yet.  We even…”

After seeing the way Tommy looked on as Lee talked about their team’s successes, Sonya elbowed him and he quieted down.

“Well, that’s great.” Tommy said somewhat awkwardly before he changed the subject by stating,  “We should probably get moving.  We’ve got a lot of ground to cover.”

“So where do we need to go?”  Numbuh Eighty Five asked, speaking for the first time since the truck left.

“This way,” the other boy said and turned, his cape just barely lifting off of his back as he ran across the street, its shadow and odd combination of light and dark because of the holes made in it earlier.

The other kids followed.

* * *

 

 

Number Forty Four A was not pleased with his latest assignment.  Shortly after Number 86 had left, Grandfather’s duplicate had contacted them again.  He’d said that he had an assignment for them.  A couple hours later and he and a small group of other operatives were doing reconnaissance under Cree Lincolns guidance.

He looked through his binoculars across the parking lot.  The building of their attention was the very mall that the KND usually rendezvoused with the villains when they needed to meet in Neutral territory.  Well, with all the teenagers and the nerds controlling it now, it was certainly anything but.

Even from here, he could hear the music from a boom box they had placed at the front door, facing outward.  This one was playing music by Green Day at the moment, which was slightly more bearable than what could be heard at the other entrances he’d seen but still effective at repelling the citizombies.  He could also see movement on the roof, no doubt someone standing watch.

He found himself wondering what his brother was doing at the moment.  It was a huge shock when Sector V had pulled out the lasers that reversed the effects of Grandfather’s attack.  Numbuh Fourty Four B had been in one of the DOH–DOHs that they had hit.  If they hadn’t, he was sure that they’d both be out here right now. 

Of course, by this point, one of them would have started a fight simply because they were bored.  He chuckled at the thought and continued moving around the building.  At the next entrance, two teens could be seen playing electrical guitar, which were probably fresh off the shelves and not even purchased yet.

Then they were glaring at him as they played and he knew he’d been spotted.  He responded by sticking out his tongue before moving further away from the parking lot, where their lights couldn’t reach him as well.  Teenagers, sheesh! 

* * *

 

 

Jessica sat silently between Numbuh Forty four B and the passenger side window as Numbuh Fourteen drove the car, occasionally changing direction as Numbuh Three Sixty Three made suggestions.

The other girl was having trouble looking over the dash, which had not been designed for a driver so small, so young. Despite the challenge, because she was using  extendable poles that could be strapped to her legs, given to her by Tommy, she could reach the cars pedals without issue.  So she was able to drive the car slowly but surely toward the school.

As she sat there, Jessica thought about the offer that Numbuh Five had made along with everything she had seen and done this evening.  She had to admit, she had enjoyed running around and fighting against the citizombies.  On the other hand, Numbuh Three Sixty Three’s injury along with the ship crash earlier that evening had shown her that this was no game.  The Kids Next Door were putting themselves in harm’s way to protect other children.  Was she willing to risk her own safety like that?

“What are you thinking about?”  Numbuh 44b asked, startling her from her thoughts.

She hugged her bunny as she looked at him and said, “Just… everything that’s happened today, I guess.”

“Yeah.  It’s all been kind of crazy but maybe things will get a little easier for us when we get to the school.”

“It would be nice.”  Jessica replied as the truck went around the corner.

“Okay guys,” Numbuh Fourteen said, “We’re only ten blocks away from the school entrance.  Where do I need to go to get us close to the outside entrance?”

“We need to go to the far side of the football field.  It’s to the back right of the school.” Jessica replied.

Numbuh Fourteen pulled over, looked at the map for a few moments and start down a street that ran perpendicular to the one they were on.  They were almost there now and they hadn’t had any problems yet.  Maybe, if they were lucky, they’d make it the rest of the way to the underground school without anything bad happening.


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Father decides he's fed up with Grandfather.   
> Contact between part of Sector V's ground team and the elementary school.   
> Tommy takes the other part of the team on a detour.   
>  Grandfather and Monty get a visit from the duplicate that had been left in charge of the Convention Center.

Father was once again in his pink and yellow robe, with a container of ice cream in hand. He was sitting in the very chair he had been in earlier when he’d talked to his brother and his little brat of a nephew. Now he was brooding to himself.

  
That morning, he had been head of the most powerful group of child controlling villains on earth. Now all he had control over was what was under his own roof. He wondered if his pappy would threaten to take even that from him.  
  
He felt betrayed. He had restored his dad in hopes of sharing power with him and the man had taken away everything he’d built up. Pappy had always been good at making him miserable. He’d spent years building up his empire and had exhausted plan after plan to defeat the KND. The older villain had no right…  
He didn’t get it. It was him who had followed in their father’s footsteps while Monty had turned his back on their ways. If it wasn’t for him, the family legacy that Grandfather held in such high regards would have collapsed. Yet he was the one who their dad rejected.  
  
He glanced out the window. Some of the light from the citizombies’ camp was filtering through them. It felt like an intrusion into his home. He was tempted to chase them out of the neighborhood. Maybe in the morning he’d do that. The KND actually might prove to be useful for getting the job done, too.   
He could already feel the first parts of a plan forming in his mind but he mustn’t get ahead of himself. What would the ultimate goal be, anyway? He couldn’t exactly take over anything major without taking power away from his dad.  
  
Thinking back to the way his dad had treated him all day and especially a couple hours ago, he suddenly realized he didn’t care. No, that wasn’t it. He cared a heck of a lot. He wanted to push his dad off of his high horse. It had taken him nearly three decades longer than big brother but he’d finally reached the end of his rope.  
  
He looked around the room as he picked up his pipe from the table he’d placed it on when he’d started on his latest ice cream spree. Empty Ice cream containers were scattered across the floor and he realized that he had even stained his robe. Look what he had allowed his Pappy reduce him to. “No more.” Ben said and shook his head and repeated himself with more conviction, “No more.”  
  
The spy fly that the Delightful Children sent out should be back by now. He’d start by seeing what has been going on in Sector V tonight and make his own plans from there. No doubt tomorrow morning the old man’s minions would try to attack them again. If he wanted to be ready by then, there was a lot of work to do.   
  
He’d have to wake up his Delightful Children early tomorrow morning, too.

* * *

  
Number Three Sixty Two stood tall as she listened to the latest reports. None of the Salons that they had checked out had any information on their lists of scheduled appointments or walk-ins that had Katherine Uno. With only two salons in town unchecked, Rachel was starting to get worried. If Nigel’s mom didn’t stay in town, she could literally be anywhere.  
  
She didn’t want to think about the consequences for failure. There was no telling how Grandfather’s duplicate would make good his threat but she knew he would if she couldn’t locate the woman she had been volunteered to find. After all she’d done to tick him off; she imagined he was probably happily devising his possible punishment at that very moment.  
  
So instead she was waiting as agified employees from each place checked their databases called in, the latest of which was now on the phone. “We found her information.”  
  
Rachel sat straight up as she spoke into the phone, “She was there?”  
  
“No she went to our sister store in the mall.”  
  
“The mall?” Rachel queried as she got a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach, “you mean the one KND and the Villains consider neutral territory.”  
  
“That’s the one.”  
  
“Of course it is,” She said and added, “Thank you for your participation in this search Grandfather ordered.”  
  
“Oh with pleasure. Anything for Grandfather!”  
  
“Anything for Grandfather…” Rachel repeated listlessly as she hung up.  
  
She turned to Number Four One One and asked, “We confirmed that the Teenagers and nerds had chosen that mall for their stronghold, right?”  
  
“Yup.”  
  
Rachel chuckled.  
  
“What’s so funny?” The other operative queried.  
  
“It seems like none of Numbuh One’s family got agified.” Then she frowned, serious again. “Don’t stop the search. Just because she was at the mall to get her nails done today doesn’t mean she was there when Grandfather took over.”  
  
“What are you going to do sir?”  
  
“I’m going to report to the Villain’s Duplicate, of course. He’ll want to know what I’ve discovered.”  
  
“He’ll also know that you probably won’t be able to retrieve his daughter-in-law by morning. How do you think he’ll react to that?”  
Rachel sighed and said, “probably not very well.”  
  
She walked into the portable communications center and punched in the code for the convention center.  
  
When the screen turned on at the opposite end, instead of being met by a view of Grandfather’s imposing figure, Mr. Boss and Number Eighty Six were there. “Number Three Sixty Two.” The villain said in an annoyed tone as Number Eighty Six Saluted her.   
  
“Where’s Grandfather’s duplicate?” she asked.  
  
“Taking the information everyone gathered on his grandson back to the villain who summoned him and reporting what we know about other groups of resistance.” Number Eighty Six said.  
  
“Other groups? There’s more than Sector V and the one in the mall?”  
  
Number Eighty Six nodded.  
  
“Why are you calling in?” Mr. Boss asked in an annoyed tone before the woman could continue. Despite their being on the same team under Grandfathers rule, the people who were Kids Next Door and Evil Adult Industries still had their memory intact and were distrustful of each other.  
  
“I have a lead on Numbuh Zero’s wife, that’s why. I’ll keep looking into it and call back later.” She was about to hang up but a question popped into her head. “How is the plan to attack sector V’s base coming along?”  
  
“Quite well actually.” Mr. Boss said. “I’m looking forward to putting sector V in their place. It’s just a pity Numbuh One won’t be amongst them when we take the base down. I’d have liked to see what he looks like when utterly defeated.”   
  
“We’ll swamp their defenses when their security system shuts down in the morning.” Number Eighty Six said joyfully. “ And I even get to do it with my dad.” She turned to Mr. Boss and said, “isn’t it nice to get to plan it out together, Daddy.”  
  
For once, the villain gave an actual smile, one without an ounce of malice, and said, “It sure is, my little Fanny Pants.”  
  
“Not so little anymore, being agified and all.”  
  
She heard a couple of snickers in the background, until the parent child duo glanced behind. Then it all fell silent.   
  
“Anything else,” Mr. Boss queried in an annoyed tone.  
  
“I don’t suppose he went through the doors to leave this time, did he.”  
  
“Actually,” Numbuh Eighty Six replied, “He did.”  
  
“He could have actually opened them first, though.” Mr. Boss added. “Then again, we’ve been complaining about the lack of ventilation in this building for years.”

* * *

 

  
As they came to the last row of houses in the back field, the kids stopped the truck and Numbuh Fourteen got out to peak around the corner.  
The other children took the moment to prepare for the pace to pick up again. During the ride in the truck, they had become aware of just how tired they were.   
  
They had all been running at full speed and on high alert all day. Even under normal circumstances, they’d have all been in bed long before now. It was so weird to see the clock on the dashboard showing 11:23.  
  
Still, they all knew that they had no time to sleep. Everyone was depending on them.  
  
When she came back a few minutes later, she said, “the whole place is crawling with citizombies. Jessica, are you sure that there is not a safer place to enter the school from.  
  
“Probably, since it seemed to be part of a whole underground city but I don’t know where they are,” the younger girl responded as she squeezed her doll.  
  
“And we most certainly don’t have time to go looking for them if we want to get the fuel to Sector V in time.” Numbuh Forty-Two B added as he stifled a yawn.  
Numbuh Fourteen sighed before stating, “A couple of us need to stay here and guard the truck while Jessica shows the rest of us where the entrance is. Numbuh Three Sixty Three, since you are already injured, it’s probably best that you stay here until we know where to take you.”  
  
The boy nodded in response but looked annoyed at having to be left behind.  
  
“Numbuh Forty Two B, you’ll stay with him. Jessica and I will find the entrance and get some help to get this stuff underground. We’ll be back as soon as possible.”  
  
The other boy nodded and asked, “should I watch from here or hide in the bushes?”  
  
You two would probably be harder to see in the bushes. Not to mention that an empty truck will draw less attention than an occupied one.  
Jessica opened the passenger side door and jumped to the ground. Numbuh Forty Two B followed, Closing the door behind him.  
Numbuh Three Sixty Three crawled out the other side, refusing help from Numbuh Fourteen to get down for fear of touching her. He winced as his foot touched the ground.   
  
Numbuh Fourteen grabbed the keys from the ignition, locked the truck doors and closed the driver side door. She then passed the keys to Numbuh Three Sixty Three, who was careful to avoid physical contact with her as he took them.  
  
After the boys had hidden well enough to satisfy Numbuh Fourteen, she turned to Jessica and said, “lead the way.”  
  
Jessica nodded as she hugged her stuffed bunny tightly.  
  
She led the other girl into a ditch outside the football field. From there, they could see the gear that had previously used to pump a salad dressing well on the playground had been relocated to pump the one full of prune juice. She felt sorry for whoever had to be out in the middle of the night to pump that stuff. It wasn’t a freezing cold night, but it was still a little nippy.  
  
She came to a spot where some boards were laying against the ground, looking like nothing more than trash being left there. She knocked on them waited. A few seconds later, the boards lifted and the head of a second grade boy with brown eyes and red hair popped out from under them. “Jessica?”  
  
“I’ve come back from Sector V with some operatives. We have a way to help each other.”

* * *

  
Joaquin was having trouble balancing as the gunny pigs whom had captured him and his team lead them to an area closer to the trunk of the tree. By now, he was thoroughly confused as to where they were in relation to the main base.  
  
It was clear that the larger rodents knew where they were, though. One had even been sent ahead sometime earlier, probably to report their capture, he imagined. Ahead to where, though?  
  
And what would happen when they get there. The gunny pigs had never been known to attack a hamster before but that didn’t mean they were friendly. In fact, the hamsters have very much tried to avoid them up until now. Hopefully, it was a good sign that they were willing to chase off that feathery giant earlier.  
Joaquin was startled from his thoughts as the leader of the hunting party who’d captured them gestured for them to stop. They did as told. The area was close to some of Sector V’s structures, which were rather sparse in this part of the tree.  
  
He studied the larger rodent as they waited. This one was brown with a white spot over his left eye. He wore a leaf on his head, and some sort of skirt made out of what looked like some sort of torn fabric, as did the others. Unlike the others, he also a collar that looked like it was made from a thin strip of inner tree bark.  
  
Suddenly, another Guinea Pig appeared from the leaves ahead and started chattering with his leader. Although they communicated with squeaks similar to the hamsters, they were just different enough that it was like hearing another language.  
  
They both glanced at him. By now, he was sure they knew he was the leader of the group he’d brought but he wondered if they knew he was the highest ranking hamster in Sector V. Just because they didn’t interact with the hamsters didn’t mean they couldn’t have kept an eye on them. And what would it mean if they did know?  
  
Then they were being forced to move again. They went under the roof and into the room, long abandoned by any humans. It was very dark and it took a moment for Joaquin’s eyes to adjust to it as they descended the wall but once they did, he saw that the room was comparable in size to the debriefing room. He saw a dim green glow from the other side of the room.  
  
As they got closer, he saw that the guinea pig village had been built using all sorts of ancient KND base materials; books, busted weapons, tools, boxes, toys and all sorts of other stuff were used in the construction for nest areas. It was so odd to see, being that the hamsters were supplied with their own nesting materials by the humans.  
  
The guinea pigs whom had brought them here made his team stop and wait again, guarded by other guinea pigs. As they waited, one of their captors offered them some unfamiliar looking seeds which they accepted, so as not to offend the larger rodents.  
  
Their guide appeared again and pointed to Joaquin and gestured for him to follow. He glanced back to see his friends, who were trying to put on big smiles as if they weren’t scared. They waved him off to go on. He followed the guinea pigs, leaving the other hamsters behind.

* * *

  
Tommy and Patty poked their heads out of the bushes, looking about to make sure there were no citizombies close by.  
  
“See anybody?” Patty Asked.  
  
“Nope.”  
  
“Me neither.”  
  
“All clear,” Tommy said, loud enough for Lee and Sonia to hear from under the nearby picnic table.  
  
They were using a leap frog technique where one group would scout ahead to make sure the coast was clear, then the other would run past them and check the next stretch of terrain. Although he had learned about the technique in the Arctic Training Facility, Tommy had never gotten to apply it in the field before, since he had been working alone as The Tommy. It was nice to get to finally apply the group work aspect of what he’d learned after so long out of the KND.  
  
Lee and Sonia signaled that it was safe to move again and Tommy and Patty moved forward again. “We need to stop with Lee and Sonya, there’s something I want to talk to you about.” They were about half way to the school from the parking lot where they had begun but Tommy didn’t plan on making the whole journey on foot.  
  
“What’s going on,” Sonya asked, looking away from the streetlight which she had been looking at longingly.   
  
“What do you think about making the rest of the way to the school by ship?”  
  
“It sounds cool but where are we going to find one ship around here?” Lee queried.  
  
“It would mean going a little off course but my house is in this neighborhood. Hoagie and I have all sorts of inventions there. On top of that, we have some of our dads old stuff, as well as thing Hoagie and I work on during our own free time. We don’t have much KND quality equipment, we can’t afford it on our own but we do have a few of vehicles to choose from and some nice machinery that may prove useful later. I would have suggested it earlier but the route we took to reach the truck was much further away from my house.”  
  
“It might be worth a shot,” Patty stated. “What are the potential risks?”  
  
“Other than the citizombies that we might meet on our way there, my mom will almost definitely be home, and I doubt she escaped becoming a citizombie. She was doing some gardening when I left to help the KND and told me to get Hoagie and be home in time for dinner.” Tommy winced, “I hope she won’t be too angry about that.”  
  
Sonya patted him on the back and said, “I’m sure she’ll understand, Tommy. It’s not every day that an evil guy agifies everyone in the world. It could kind of ruin anyone’s plan.”   
  
“I think we should have enough anti-aging water to risk it.” Patty stated. “Lee, Sonya, What do you guys think?”  
  
“It works for me,” Lee said as he took out a yoyo and did a couple tricks with it.  
  
“I like that plan, too.” Sonya stated.  
  
For a few more minutes, the kids followed the road but as Tommy became more familiar with the surroundings, he started taking them over fences and into backyards, going around pools, passing patios and climbing trees as he led the others to his home. There were a few times where they had to change course because a citizombie was staring out of a window or rocking on a porch swing but they made it through without incident.  
  
As they landed in a yard with a shed filled to the brim with used mechanical equipment stacked up within, the boy said quietly, “here we are. Home sweet home.”  
  
“So where are these ships?” Patty asked.  
  
“In the Garage.,” Tommy replied. “Come on , I’ll show you. He went to one of the two doors of the main house and opened it, only to find it wouldn’t budge. “Oh, I guess it would have been easier to get in here if Hoagie and I took some time and cleaned the garage like mom told us to do a kajillion times. I think the stuff is holding the door shut.”  
  
“Is it going to be a problem?” Patty asked, giving him an annoyed look.  
  
Suddenly, there was a click and the door opened and there was his mom, who was in fact still not a zombie, whom cleared away some of their stuff, to reach the door. “Hello dear. Sorry it took a moment to unlock the door, your father’s old security system is a little overly complex. Oh and I see you brought friends. Is Hoagie here, too?”  
  
“No, he’s still in the treehouse.”  
  
“Oh my, well I guess you better come in before those things realize take advantage of the fact that we’re standing out here in the open.

  
The whole time, the KND operatives stared in shock. Finally, Patty asked incredulously, “Your system was able to hold off the citizombies?”  
  
“My husband and I designed it to protect our from anyone who might try to hurt us. It just so happened that these citizombies were the ones who tried.” Then she changed the topic by saying, “the meatloaf I made for dinner is cold. If you kids want, I could reheat some for your dinner.”  
  
“Actually, mom,” Tommy said, “we’d love to but we have to get over to the school.”  
  
“Then how about meatloaf sandwiches?”  
  
“Sure.”  
  
As his mom made meatloaf sandwiches, Tommy showed his friends all the ships  had. Most were tiny, one person vehicles but a couple could hold two or three people.  Then he showed them some of the other technology they had lying around the garage.

 They were still trying to decide who would ride in what ship and which items they could afford to take with them when Mrs. Gilligan came back with dinner.  
  
“Hey Mom,” Tommy asked, which ship would you like to ride in?”  
  
She looked confused for a moment before saying “Oh, you thought… no dear, I’m not coming but you kids can always come back here if you need to.”  
  
“But why not?”  
  
I’m not about to leave my house alone for a bunch of strangers to break into and use. Besides, if anyone else like you turns up, I could offer them a safe place to stay.  
  
“But what if the citizomies get you?”  
  
“Don’t worry. I’ll be fine. You just be careful and come home as soon as you can. Oh, and the next time you see your brother, tell him that I managed to get that stain out of the shirt I got him for his birthday.”  
  
“Yes mom.” He said as he took his sandwich and climbed into his ship next to Numbuh Eighty Five.  
  
“Thanks Mrs. Gilligan,” Sonya said as she and Lee crawled into their own vehicle.  
  
“Good luck with the citizombies.” Lee added.  
  
“Now you kids have fun but be careful.”  
  
With that, the kids took off into the night, headed for the school.

* * *

  
Jessica watched as Numbuh Forty Two B pushed another box out the door for the two third graders to carry down to the ditch where the entrance to the underground school was. There, a fifth grader waited to carry the load to the next part of the chain they had made to carry their tapioca contraband into the school.   
  
Numbuh Fourteen had already taken Numbuh Three Sixty Three inside and was talking to whoever might be running things here.  
  
Jessica was one of the kids standing guard. She had a kazoo, as did the others who were standing watch. There were five watchers, evenly spread out across the run  
  
Everyone who was outside was armed with some sort of water container filled with fountain of youth water. It was easy enough to obtain once they knew where to find it that that all the kids in the secret underground building had been able to arm themselves with the liquid in the time since they had discovered it’s existence.  
  
“Only a few more boxes to go,” Numbuh 44 B stated.  
  
“Good!” one of the kids holding the box replied. “I’m getting sick of carrying my own weight in tapioca. I mean, we aren’t supposed to be carrying loads this heavy until middle school.”  
  
“Shhh. They might hear us.” The other third grader said. They carted off the load.   
  
Jessica watched them start to make their way to the trench. Then she turned and glanced to where another student stood watch. This was a blonde girl who she sat next to in music class. She wouldn’t quite say the girl was a friend, she didn’t really know her all that well but it was nice to see a familiar face from her grade. She and the other girl had already exchanged a couple of smiles and waves since they’d taken their positions.  
  
This time she didn’t see her. As she looked she saw a bush rustle near where she should have been. She had a bad feeling as she hugged Hopsy Mopsy. Then she heard a kazoo sound off close to the ditch, followed by some yelling. She pulled out her spray bottle as Numbuh Forty Four B jumped out of the back of the truck did the same. Although she was closer, he ran so fast that he quickly passed her. They both had their spray bottles in hand.   
  
As he topped the hill, she saw a citizombie try to grab him as he pointed his water bottle and sprayed it, turning the ancient man into into a dripping wet boy who looked like he should be in preschool but she suspected might actually be a member of the Six Gum Gang. As she caught up, she saw that the fight was already shifting in their favor.   
  
The water made all the difference. The citizombies were retreating as the kids chased after them, while a bunch of kids stood stunned, soaked to the bone but free from Grandfather’s powers.  
  
When the other kids came back, they said that they got most of the citizombies but a couple got away.  
  
“We better get underground then. We’ve got the truck mostly unloaded anyway. They know what we’re capable of now so they’ll be more prepared when they come back with reinforcements.

* * *

  
Meanwhile, at Grandfather’s home, Monty was sitting in the living room with Grandfather. He would have stayed with Nigel but his Pappy had insisted on staying with him. Numbuh Zero doubted that the first sight Nigel would want to see when he woke up would involve having the world’s greatest villain leaning over him. Especially after said villain had just forcefully awakened his powers.  
  
So now they sat in the living room. Monty was on the couch and Grandfather in his chair. After a few minutes of halfhearted attempts at conversation, they’d fallen silent. Grandfather occasionally levitated a new piece of wood to the now lit fireplace but other than that, they just sat there.

  
Finally, Monty asked, “So Pappy, what do you plan to do next?”  
  
“What?”  
  
“Well,” Monty asked, “You’ve got most of the world under your control and all the tapioca you could want. I am here, Nigel’s upstairs recovering from having his powers awakened. Your citizombies will soon find my wife. And Ben, he’s off at his mansion with his delightful children, although I doubt he’ll be satisfied with that for long. He seems worse at bottling his anger than you are. And Nigel’s friends are holding his tree house.  
  
“I can keep Ben in line. As for what happens next, tomorrow, my citizombies and duplicates will defeat the last of the KND. Then my victory will be complete.” Monty noticed that the villain sounded like he wasn’t as sure of that as he wanted to be.  
  
“Is the book of KND still giving you trouble Pappy?”   
  
Grandfather glared and said, “Mention that infernal book again and see what happens.”  
  
Monty decided it was probably best not to tick him off right now, so he changed the subject. “And what about my family?”  
“Well…”   
  
Suddenly, the front door slammed open, startling both of them, and in came one of Grandfather’s duplicates, levitating folders, binders books DVD’s and a television set with him.  
  
“Ever heard of Knocking?” Grandfather said grumpily to his doppelganger from his chair as Monty just watched silently.   
  
“It’s my house,” The duplicate replied before adding joyfully, “Hello Monty.”  
  
Before Numbuh Zero could respond, the original villain stood up and exclaimed, “It’s not your house. It’s mine! You’re just a duplicated and you will show me proper respect. Do I make myself clear?”  
  
The other rolled his eyes but said, “Fine. I’ll knock next time. Do you want to hear my report or not?”  
  
“Of course I do.”   
  
“Good. Now first, I think it’s important to tell you that we have discovered more resistance groups scattered throughout the world.”  
  
The original stated, “that’s unfortunate but at this point, not surprising. Are there any that we should be immediately concerned about other than that base next to Ben’s Mansion?”  
  
“Perhaps the group at the mall nearby but we plan to take care of them as soon as we’ve dealt with our most immediate problems.”  
  
“Good, now what have you brought me here.”  
  
“Some of the information you requested for Nigel. I decided to get it seeing as you’ll want to know as much as you can to know how to best keep him in line.”  
  
“There’s so much,” Grandfather said, looking at the stack the duplicate had brought.  
  
“I know and I set limits for what information the villains supplied. The kid’s got the family talent for outdoing his enemies.”   
  
“Good to hear. Is there anything else?”  
  
“Nothing but whatever the other duplicate told you is going on at the school.”  
  
Grandfather gave his duplicate a confused look.  
  
In response, it stated, “Some of the citizombies were rerouting supplies out to there. I get the impression that they want to surprise us with something out there. After he got there, he called in and told me to send in more supplies for whatever they’re up to and said he’d explain the situation to you later.”  
  
Monty tried not to laugh at the thought of Grandfather’s own copies sneaking around and doing things behind his back as the villain glared at his doppelganger and asked in an annoyed tone, “am I going to have to send another duplicate out there to find out what this one’s doing?”  
  
“No need. There’s nothing much going on for me right now and you know how much I love to fly around my kingdom at night…”  
  
“You mean my kingdom,” the original corrected him.  
  
The duplicate glared at him before saying, “I’d best get to work then.” He then opened the door and flew out into the night.  
  
“I’m beginning to recall why I was never fond of using duplicates to do my work. His Kingdom. Ha!” He got one glimpse of his son, who was trying to keep a straight face and asked, “Is this somehow amusing to you Monty?”  
  
“No, dad.”

  
“You’re a terrible liar, son.”  
  
Grandfather picked up a file from the top of the stack and opened it. He proceeded to move the folder various distances from his face, trying to find a distance far enough from his face that it wasn’t blurry but close enough that he could read the words.  
  
After a long moment of watching this, Monty finally asked, “Couldn’t you just use your shape shifting powers to change the shape of your eye to see well?”   
  
“Do you have any idea the level of detail that would go into something like that? With the amount of concentration that it would take, there’s no way I’d be able to focus on the paper in front of me.” Grandfather glared at the sheet as he added, “Still, having to sit here and do this makes me feel really…” the villain trailed off.  
  
“Old?”  
  
Grandfather growled before bitterly replying, “yes, it makes me feel old.”  
  
“And going by the name of Grandfather while agifying people and objects around you didn’t?”  


“That’s different!”  
  
“Why?”  
  
“Because I’m in control. Unlike here, with this and…” Grandfather stopped and took a deep breath before saying, “…and I think we need to change the subject or I might have a blow out and accidentally disintegrate everything we have on your boy.” He threw the envelope into the pile and changed the subject by asking, “How would you feel about watching some of those movies?”  
  
Rather than push the previous subject, Monty replied “You know, I think I’d like to see my son in action. You should have seen him and his team during the school play. It was quite thrilling and I’m sure it will be even more so, now that I know what’s going on. Surely there must be footage of that somewhere in this pile.”  
  
“I can hardly see how the words ‘school play’ and ‘thrilling’ can go together.”  
  
“What if I drop in the words ‘Giant Robot’ and ‘special effects modified as weaponry’ into the mix?”  
  
“I’ll admit, it sounds a great deal more interesting when you say that.”  
  
“Good, I’ll see if I can find it in here.” 


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Trouble with Grandfather's Duplicates at the school. Joaquin meets the guinea pig cheif. Grandfather and Monty watch Nigel's videos. Rachel tries to confirm if Numbuh Zero's wife is at the Mall. Tommy and the members of Sector W following him reach their destination.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> After about half a year since putting out the last chapter, this one is finally ready to be put up. I would like to thank both Numbuh 777 and Rioludoodle. This chapter would not be nearly as good as it is without their help.
> 
> The piece below is by far the longest single chapter that I have ever written to date and is longer than some of my multiple chaptered stories. Including my notes, it is just short of 8,000 words.
> 
> And now it is complete. I hope that you find that it was worth the wait.

“Another cup,” Grandfather’s duplicate called out, having finishing his third. It was the best prune juice he’d ever had the fortune of tasting. And to think, it had been hidden under a school playground, and accidentally uncovered by his own grandson, no less!

“Um, sir?” the citizombiefied Principal Saurbraughten asked nervously, earning himself a glare,“Don’t you think that your original might want to hear about this?”

The duplicate glared at the citizombie and said, “I’ll tell him when I’m good and ready and not a second before. Don’t question me again.” 

He’d been playing errand boy ever since he’d been summoned into existence. ‘Go deliver a message to the other duplicate,’ ‘Go check and see why supplies are being diverted…’ Well, he’d done that already, and now he was going to sit and enjoy the benefits of freedom for as long as he pleased. What was the worst that could happen, that his original would recall him? It was bound to happen soon enough anyway, he might as well enjoy himself while he could.

Suddenly, another citizombie came running up to him as fast as his arthritis-ridden legs could carry him. 

“Sir! There’s a group of children on the school grounds, including Kids Next Door operatives.”

The duplicate turned to him immediately, growling, “What?”

“Children…” huffed the tired citizombie, “They were running back and forth between a truck and some hole in the ground when my scouting team found them.”

“And where is this scouting team?”

His minion replied, “They were sprayed with some fluid that made them younger. It changed them back from being citizombies.”

The doppelganger clenched his teeth. He didn’t like the sound of that one little bit. 

“Show me,” he ordered as he snatched up another cup of juice that was being offered to him before following the scout out the door. 

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Taking a path running between the hodgepodge of nests, the rodents finally rounded a corner where they could again see the chief’s spot. Joaquin could see the guinea pig leader sitting in a makeshift throne. The chief’s fur was brown and tan. He wore a white crown on his head and a stubby pencil through his nose. Dangling around his throat was a necklace of purple buttons, and wrapped around his midsection was a waistband hung with aluminum soda tabs.

Joaquin tried not to look nervous. He was about to ask for the help of one of the most feared beings of hamster legend. This was the leader of the rodents who were cast aside for Joaquin’s kind and banished to the darkest corners of the treehouse. This was the guinea pig he had braved the entire, crazy night to find.

The chief was talking to another guinea pig at the moment, but when the one escorting Joaquin called out to him, he looked up and saw the hamster in tow. The guinea pig chief studied the smaller rodent for a moment before giving a command to the one which had brought him. Joaquin figured the larger rodent was probably demanding something along the lines of an explanation for his presence.

In response, the other guinea pig lifted his spear and hooted like the monster they had encountered earlier. Then, he made a throwing gesture as he said something else, which was greeted by a few cheers from the other guinea pigs in the room. The chief allowed the ruckus to continue for but a moment before silencing the crowd with a gesture. 

Joaquin’s chaperone tapped the butt of his spear on the ground three times, and then he pointed at the hamster present. Joaquin realized that the guinea pig was describing the encounter in which he and his team had been found.

Another guinea pig appeared and looked at Joaquin with a dumbfounded expression before erupting into excited chatter, a flurry of words too fast for Joaquin to try to grasp any of them. 

Apparently, this was also true for the guinea pig chief, who huffed in annoyance and warbled something at the other that prompted it to slow down.

As the talkative rodent continued speaking at a more reasonable pace, surprise crossed the chief’s features. His astonishment was followed by disbelief as he gestured first to Joaquin and then to himself as he talked. The fast-speaking guinea pig nodded. 

Joaquin put two and two together that the gabby guinea pig recognized him as the treehouse’s top hamster. Apparently, while the hamsters had been avoiding the guinea pig tribe, the tribe had been busy watching the hamsters.

The guinea pig chief stood up and approached Joaquin. The hamster drew himself up as tall as he could and tried not to look scared. Stoically, the larger rodent stopped in front of Joaquin, crossing his arms and studying him with scrutiny.

Said hamster thought about everyone back at the base in order to fortify his courage, which was being stretched to its limits in this situation. Finally, after what felt like an eternity, Joaquin decided to swallow his fear and take the initiative. He smiled and waved, greeting, “Hehwo.” 

It was a gesture that worked for humans; he figured it might work for the guinea pigs too. They had once lived with the humans, after all - or at least their ancestors had.

The chief lifted an inquisitive eyebrow but replied in kind. 

”Hehwo.”

Joaquin let out a deep breath. Before beginning to explain why he had come, he took a moment to contemplate how to proceed. He was thankful for the abilities he’d developed in his need to communicate with the humans, immensely glad that those same skills would be useful in overcoming the current language barrier. The hamster desperately hoped that these negotiations would not turn out to be all for nothing.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Grandfather’s duplicate landed next to a still modern-looking tanker truck and glanced back at the citizombie who had led him there. He asked, “Is this the one?”

“Yup,” affirmed the citizombie, “The kids were unloading the back when we found them.”

Grandfather’s duplicate nodded, taking a sip from the cup in his hand as he circled around the vehicle. It was an unremarkable tapioca courier, one that had been around before he had awoken and agified the world.

He telekinetically opened the back and saw that all but a few boxes had already been removed. One of the leftovers was lying sideways, its cup sized containers spilling tapioca haphazardly across the floor. 

This was what those snot nosed brats were unloading? What did they even want it for? They had about as much use for tapioca as he did for the garbage that Robin Food and his cronies brought to the retirement home. He cringed at the memories and made a note to find those lazy, singing annoyances and get vengeance for the dietary issues they’d caused him in his more helpless, brainwashed state. Only a week ago, they had dropped a meatball sandwich onto his plate, bragging about how the kid they had captured as the first place prize in the Villain’s Choice Awards wouldn’t have any need of it. 

Okay, so they had dropped it onto his original self’s plate - but both the original and duplicate Grandfathers had the same memories, so what difference did it make?

At that, he shook his head to clear it of distractions and returned to contemplating the mystery of the tapioca stealing children…. Why do it? To what end could those brats possibly use it? 

… Well, he was not going to find any more answers in the back of the truck. 

“I suppose I could always go over and ask them,” he said aloud as he left the tanker, hovering a few feet above the ground. Of course, he wouldn’t actually ask them before he personally terrorized them to the point that they’d be begging to talk. It was a pity that as a duplicate he was incapable of agifying the brats.

Suddenly, he was interrupted from his thoughts by an unexpected presence.

“I sent you out here to find out why supplies are being diverted hours ago. What have you been doing?” questioned the newly-arrived Grandfather duplicate. Then, noticing the cup in the first duplicate’s hand, he pointed to it and asked, “And what is that?”

“We have more important things to discuss now,” still, the first duplicate drank from the cup before continuing, knowing that such a display would only further annoy his counterpart. He said, “A bunch of brats just freed some of my citizombies out here…”

“Here, too?” asked the other, concerned, “To have this happen at one location is bad enough, but two? We could have real trouble on our hands if we don’t quash this problem quickly.” He slammed his closed fist into his other open palm to emphasize his point.

Rather than rag on the other for stating the obvious, the more informed duplicate instead queried, “And do you know what they were doing before they were found?”

“What?”

“They were smuggling tapioca! Explain that one.”

The other frowned confusedly at his look alike, glancing first into the back of the truck and then back at him, still bewildered. “What do you think they’re up to?” he questioned as the hoard of citizombies finally caught up.

The first responded, “I have no better idea than you, but whatever it is, I don’t like it.”

“Then perhaps we should go find out,” the other said before he turned to the citizombies, shouting impatiently, “Well, what are you waiting for? Go find out where those brats went!”

For some time, the citizombies searched fruitlessly. Then, one found the entrance in a ditch not far from the school’s fence, camouflaged by a series of holes where children had dug their way out of the main building. The citizombie, with his wrinkled hands, lifted away the scrap metal that blocked the entrance, only to meet with a spray of de-aging water to the face. The others noticed just in time to see a now younger, dripping wet figure dart down the hole, past whoever had freed him from the agification. The entrance immediately closed up behind him.

The duplicate holding the prune juice took another sip as he watched his doppelganger approach the hole. The clone blasted a fireball at the trash, which was being used to block a dingy opening. Glowing red around what was left of its edges, the sheet fell down into the hole, warped and smoldering from the heat of the blast. 

The duplicate stuck his head into the space below, laughing, “Ha! You expect me to be scared of a water toy?”

From somewhere within the opening in the ground, a young girl’s voice answered in an obnoxiously confident tone, “Yes.”

Suddenly, the duplicate filling up the entrance disappeared right before his counterpart’s eyes. His dispersal was accompanied by a flash, a popping noise and a hiss of steam. 

A moment later, the girl, a freckle faced brunette who couldn’t have been older than eight, poked her head out of the hole. Her little hands rapidly pumped the multicolored water gun in her grasp. Immediately following her appearance, three more children came up behind her, similarly armed. Then, even more followed. They came outside with water bottles - the kind whose caps could be pulled open or pushed closed and whose walls were made of such annoyingly thin plastic that the things squirted at the slightest squeeze. All of them wore excited looks on their little faces, clearly anticipating a battle.

“Fall back!” Grandfather’s surviving duplicate ordered the citizombies as he swiftly backed out of any range that the guns could possibly have.

Unfortunately for him, some of the citizombies were not fast enough - a side effect of being agified and having to deal with all the physical issues that came with it. He could hear them moaning and complaining as they stumbled ever-slowly away. 

The children were hot on their tails, spraying citizombies left and right and occasionally getting a little younger themselves. Whether this was because of leaky guns or because of backsplash from their shots, it was hard to tell.

Half the citizombie hoard was lost before they got out of range of the brats, who had ceased in their chase partly because the water bottles no longer squirted and partly because the few who possessed actual water guns were more invested in holding a defensive line for their ammunition-less compatriots and the newly freed than in chasing after the enemy.

As soon as Grandfather’s surviving duplicate and the remaining citizombies were out of range of the aquatic arms, the copy used his limited powers to summon a wall of fire, guaranteeing that they were cut off from pursuit. 

The clone looked back through the flames at the cocky runts, who cheered victoriously or openly mocked him from the far side of the inferno. The ex-citizombies, freed from his control, simply stood there, shocked, dazed, and dripping. 

How dare they? Didn’t they know who he was? He was Grandfather, ruler of the world. He was descended from long line of powerful villains, whom anyone would be a fool to disrespect. Furthermore, he was the soon-to-be destroyer of the Book of KND, and they dared mock him?! He bared his teeth, growling as he summoned a fireball to each hand, the sight of which caused the children’s jests and jeers to morph into screams of terror as they fled. He lobbed his flames at them, prompting the pack of brats to scurry away faster.

Eventually, the children retook a defensive position just beyond the reach of his burning assault. This time, they seemed chastised enough by his display of anger to hold their tongues and show him due reverence.

After taking a few deep breaths to calm himself, Grandfather - no, Grandfather’s duplicate - finally asked himself, “What in the world was that?" 

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Numbuh Two glanced curiously at the small set of dusty tracks running across the wooden floor as he entered the living room. It was just one of many similar trails he had seen throughout the base this evening - or was it yesterday evening, now?

He was distracted from these musings as he felt a cool breeze waft through the room. He gazed up at the hole that the Citizombies had made in the wallboards earlier. Some kids were working on making it a little more defensible, nailing new boards across the giant gap. They haphazardly maintained slits of space between the wooden planks so that people could look outside and point guns at any enemy who might try to approach the most obvious weak point in the base. 

The Big Badolescent may have been enough to win the battle earlier, but a temper-driven super monster who lost her strength if she calmed down was hardly a reliable source of protection. They’d been extremely lucky last time - they might not be during the next attack.

As Numbuh Two looked out into the night, he hoped that a storm wasn’t on its way. It was already a little chilly in this part of the base. The last thing they needed was rain blowing in; if any of the kids who had to stand guard caught a cold, it would not bode well for the now crowded treehouse.

“Hello, Numbuh Two,” a voice suddenly called out from behind him. 

Sector V’s mechanic turned his head and greeted, “Hey, Numbuh Forty Two. How are things going?” 

“Well enough,” replied the other boy, “We’ve been building birthday suits and ray beam weapons that are sturdier than the ones we used earlier, now that we finally have a break from the fighting. The next time those citizombies attack, we’ll be more than ready for them.” He paused for a moment before adding, “I’ve even come up with a few designs that I think’ll help. They’re based on your alterations to birthday suit technology.” 

As he spoke, he pulled out a sheet of paper and offered it out to Numbuh Two.

“Cool,” said Numbuh Two, taking the sheet from him and looking through the designs drawn on it. As he studied the diagrams, he exclaimed, “Hey, these are really good! I can’t wait to see ‘em in action.”

“It’s nothing,” Numbuh Forty Two brushed off the compliment, but he still drew himself a little taller with pride. He briskly pointed out, “You’re the guy here who figured out the proper settings to fight off agification. And you’re the one who designed the laser that weaponized it. Nothing here would be possible without that.”

Numbuh Two declared, “Well, either way, it’s a big deal because I bet that the citizombies are gonna have a more organized attack planned for next time, not to mentioned better ships and weapons for it. They’ll have fixed up some the damaged ones at Moonbase by now, and there’s no doubt that they’ve gathered some of the villains’ technology together, too.”

Clearly not at all comforted by this thought, Numbuh Forty Two winced and replied, “We’d be able to focus more on the treehouse’s defenses if you weren’t having us reroute so many of our resources to the MOSQUITTOH. There has to be something better we could do with the amount of gear you’re directing to the treehouse’s cargo bay.” 

Numbuh Two suddenly realized that he had been so busy scrambling to get everything done that he’d failed to keep the other operatives updated on what was going on. He blinked in surprise, thinking that he was usually better about that kind of thing. 

He clarified for his friend, “I’m having the MOSQUITTOH refitted to hold fluids instead of ice cream. Tomorrow, when the fuel supply comes in, I’m gonna fly out with it and a team. We’ll head straight for Gallagher Elementary - that de-aging water is the best weapon we have against Grandfather. Maybe we can even get some of the teenagers to cover us. But we can’t make the run without alerting Grandfather’s citizombies, and I won’t leave the people at the school undefended.” 

They were also planning on sending another set of ships out for water guns and other weapons that might be useful against Grandfather’s forces, but Hoagie didn’t have the time to sit and discuss the entire plan. Numbuh Forty Two only needed to know enough to understand why they was diverting supplies which would have otherwise found use in further fortifying the base.

Numbuh Forty Two nodded, satisfied with the explanation. Then, after a moment, he asked, “Does this mean that we’ll be taking the fight to them, soon?”

Hoagie smiled as he replied, “Hopefully, we’ll be ready to roll by lunch time.”

The conversation ground to a halt as the two were distracted by motion in the corner of their vision. They watched confusedly as a hamster ran by, rolling with it what was clearly a large, dusty running wheel that was far too big for the small rodent. The old guinea pig wheels, if Numbuh Two wasn’t mistaken. Behind it, the wheel left a familiar set of marks.

“Well, that explains the tracks across the floor,” shrugged Numbuh Forty Two.

“What do you think they’re up to?”

“No idea.”

“What were we talking about again?”

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

After having finished the school play, both Unos had to agree that the video was the way to go. 

Grandfather was digging through the rest of the stack of movies. His search probably would have been easier if the films were still DVDs rather than actual reels of film. At least they were in color, Monty supposed, although that detail made him question just how selective Grandfather’s powers were. 

Monty watched the old man straighten from his slouch as his rummaging stopped.

It seemed that Grandfather had finally come across an interesting option, pulling the film reel out of the pile and reading aloud the label stuck onto its side, “The Delightful Children Have Their Cake and Eat It Too.”

Monty nodded with familiarity upon hearing the title of the video. While unable to put into context the not particularly hushed conversations that Nigel and his friends so frequently had while he had been under the effects of decommissioning, looking back now, their topic was obvious. He commented, “Nigel seems to have made it his team’s duty to ensure that Ben’s delightfulized kids are never allowed to eat the cakes he bakes for them.”

“So this is a defeat?” said Grandfather.

“I don’t know!” Monty exclaimed, offended for his son’s sake at the idea that Nigel had lost at the hands of the Delightful Children.

“Well, if it is, I suppose I should see how he reacts to such things.”

Monty crossed his arms and asked, “Pappy, can’t we watch something more upbeat?”

“Later.”

Grandfather took a moment to telekinetically switch the reel in the projector with the one he had just found. Then, he sat down in his chair.

The two men stared at the screen, immensely confused when the image of two puppets banging each other on the head with bats appeared as the footage began playing.

“... Did someone record over the fight?” Monty asked after a moment.

Grandfather followed up with a question of his own as the puppets continued to beat each other over the head, “Is this really what passes for child entertainment?”

“Jolly well, at least it’s not singing dinosaurs,” retorted Monty.

Suddenly, there was a jarring burst of static. It was followed by the appearance of the Delightful Children, seated in a custom built chair for all five of them. They were smirking as they bragged about eating an incredible looking cake on live TV, interrupting kids shows everywhere to do it. 

“Interesting use of the media to inflict misery on more brats than ever.”

Monty rolled his eyes. Of course his dad would notice THAT right off the bat.

As the footage got to the part where Nigel and his team burst in, Grandfather asked, “So, if that cake is what Ben’s adopted kids eat, what does your son get?”

“From Ben, absolutely nothing.”

“Nothing?!” Grandfather exclaimed in disbelief, slamming his fist on the living room table with enough force to rattle the floor. 

This violent act of temper distracted Monty from a giant pile of presents morphing into a robot on screen. 

Grandfather scowled, “Are you telling me that your boy, a child of this family, hasn’t ever tasted one of our great recipes? This is an outrage! Those five brats don’t deserve to eat that cake when a flesh and blood member of our family has never known any such delicious goodness!”

Monty retorted, “Of course he’s had our cakes. I made some for him.” 

At this point, neither man was looking at the screen any longer.

Grandfather raised an eyebrow and remarked, “Monty, you and I both know that despite having no powers, you’re the most likely person in our entire family to make a charcoal cake. I’m sorry, son, but you really can’t bake.”

Monty was genuinely offended by the statement. He claimed, “I can, too!”

“Don’t be too upset. It probably came from your mother’s side. I remember the first time she tried to make me dinner,” the old man grimaced, clearly recalling something extremely unpleasant.

“Nigel has never complained about my…” Suddenly, Monty’s eyes were pulled back to the screen. He interrupted himself, “...What the heck?”

Grandfather looked back at the television to see what had surprised his son. He witnessed footage of Nigel being carried off by hundreds, maybe thousands, of baby birds which proceeded to create a giant suit of armor around him.

At the boy’s exclamation of ‘for Mommy!’ signaling the birds to beat the stuffing (in the form of teddy bears) out of the Delightful Children’s birthday robot, both adults winced. For a family whose villains used generational monikers as titles, such a statement was just setting him up to be the butt of jokes and insults for generations. 

“I’m going to have to dispose of all copies of this as soon as possible.”

Monty shook his head, replying, “Pappy, if this broadcast was really transmitted all over the world, it’s surely made it to the web by now. There’s no getting rid of this.”

“What’s ‘the web’?” Grandfather asked, completely bewildered by Monty’s declaration. As his son gave him a surprised look, he dismissed the line of inquiry, “You know what, tell me about it later. Right now, I want to see how this ends.”

Within moments, Nigel and his baby chicks had destroyed the Delightfuls’ robot. Then, naught but a few seconds after victory, the birds became frantic. With a practiced air, the boy gave them permission to rush off. As soon as they left, he proceeded to begin ranting at the Delightful Children From Down The Lane.

“He has the family temper, I see,” Grandfather remarked.

“Look at the birds flock to the cake,” said Monty, “Do you think they would eat…Oh, dear.”

Grandfather winced, probably feeling the defiling of a family delicacy, even one made by Ben, as an almost physical blow.

In the footage, Nigel trailed off and his anger dissipated. When he next spoke, he had switched gears completely, going from raging at the Delightful Children to stating that this time, he’d let the Delightfuls, clueless to what was going on behind them, eat the whole cake themselves.

Monty’s jaw dropped.

Grandfather crowed, “Yes! Now there’s the type of nastiness I was talking about!” 

As the Delightful Children approached the cake, encouraged by Sector V to enjoy it, Monty said, “Surely they’re smart enough to know that they shouldn’t… and yet they ate it anyway.”

“You overestimate the ability of children to resist our family’s cakes. Mind you, Ben must be an incredible baker, considering that those five didn’t stop. Don’t ever tell him I said that,” Grandfather paused before adding, “On live television, too… Wow. You know what; I don’t feel so upset anymore that they got to eat the cake before Nigel.” 

Grandfather turned off the machine and removed the reel once its spinning came to a complete stop. 

He gloated, “I do believe that our family’s qualities skipped a generation though you. That was absolutely vile,” as the old man spoke, he wore a twisted smile on his face that matched the proud tone of his voice. He looked stack of movies and said, “I’m going to see what else is… Well, would you look at that?” He picked up one which had fallen to the side, exclaiming brightly, “There’s a video here completely dedicated to assorted rants! He does that, too!”

Meanwhile, Monty reflected upon the time that the KND Decommissioning Squad had interrupted a fishing trip he and Nigel were having. They had chasing them across a lake. He remembered with particular clarity how Nigel had reacted when the 2x4 ships exploded. His boy had laughed what could only be described as an evil chuckle, smiling a sinister sneer that had clearly been inherited from the old man before him now. 

Nigel had a dark side, and Grandfather had been given a glimpse, if only a quick one. Now that he knew that the potential was there, Monty knew the old man would do everything in his considerable power to exploit it, to make Nigel into the next generation of villain in their dysfunctional family.

Still, Monty knew that this dark side was only that: one side of his son. Overall, he knew that Nigel wanted to be a good person. If the boy could be shielded from the general family influence, Monty was confident that his son would turn out perfectly fine. Of course, that was looking less and less likely to occur with each passing minute.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Cree,” crackled a familiar voice over the radio.

“Numbuh Three Sixty Two. What do you want?”

“I’m calling to let you know that we’ve found evidence there may be someone of considerable importance at the mall. I wanted to inform you that I plan on approaching the current occupants in hope of gathering more information.

“Is this really necessary?”

“Yes. I’ll be at the mall in a few minutes. I’ll contact the enemy when I get there.”

“Fine,” Cree stated in annoyance, “Just don’t do anything to compromise our position.”

“I won’t.”

Rachel landed her ship just behind the safety of the border the Citizombies had set up. Cree had already warned them to expect her. After she talked with the citizombies on watch for a few minutes about the current situation, she walked across the no man’s land that was the parking lot. 

The citizombies had supplied her with a megaphone. She held it up to her mouth and announced, “I wish to speak to someone about a person of interest you may have inside the mall.”

She waited patiently while the teen guards talked in front of the main entrance of the building. Eventually, a familiar blond pushed past them and strutted out.  
Rachel growled, “Chad!”

“I guess some parts of your mind haven’t changed. My betrayal of the KND would hardly matter right now otherwise.”

She didn’t deign to respond to that line of conversation. Instead, she taunted, “I heard you ran away from Grandfather like a little baby.”

“Hey, I needed some excuse to get outta there besides ‘I’ve gotta warn the Teenagers!’”

“Sure you did.”

Chad rolled his eyes before asking coolly, “What do you want?”

“Grandfather wants Numbuh Zero’s wife located.”

“And he sent the ex-head of the KND to do it? Stooping low, aren’t you?”

“I don’t get along very well with Grandfather.”

Chad chuckled almost nostalgically, “There was a reason I let you work alone, you know, before I left. Some of the traits that made you such a good spy also caused problems when taking orders. You always had trouble following the chain of command when you weren’t at the top.”

Rachel’s wrinkled face cracked a small smile at that comment. She replied, “Speaking of chain of command, where’s The Steve? I thought he’d come out to negotiate for himself.”

“He’s too busy to talk right now,” Chad stated before moving on, “So, who exactly do you need to find so desperately?”

“Katherine Uno.”

Chad’s eyes widened in shock. 

He asked, “Isn’t that Numbuh One’s mom?” 

Thoughts whirling at Rachel’s respondent nod, he exclaimed, “Wait, you're telling me that Nigel Uno is Numbuh Zero’s son?!” He shook his head in disbelief, blithering, “That brat's dad...? Really? There's gotta be some kind of mistake here. I mean, Mr. Uno is nice and all, but he’s completely clueless! He lives right under one of the Kids Next Door's most frequently targeted tree houses and he doesn’t notice anything, for crying out loud. He can’t even remember that the ‘club’ his son spends so much time with is called the Kids Next Door!"

Three Sixty Two replied matter-of-factly, “Well, that’s what the Decommissioning Chambers are supposed to do, isn’t it? Make operatives forget. You know as well as I do what the old studies have shown: the more involved the operative, the more dramatic the effect decommissioning has on them.” 

“True,” Chad replied. He’d never been comfortable with anything involving the mind-wiping devices. He generally tried to avoid thinking about that sort of thing, but, now prompted, he easily recalled the reports from the Deep Sea Lab. Numbuh 100 had been the commissioner of the most recent research, if his memory served him correctly.

“Trust me," sneered the citizombie girl, "There’s been no mistake. Numbuh One’s dad is Numbuh Zero.”

Chad pushed his dark thoughts of decommissioning from his mind as he barked a laugh, “Ha, doesn’t that figure?” The teenager shook his head and added, “That little runt really was born for the KND. And I thought he was a good fit for those shades before.” 

Rachel doubted that Chad had noticed the trace of awe that had crept into his own voice. For a moment, she considered mentioning it just to tick him off a little more, but ultimately, she decided that she needed to keep the conversation on track.

She declared, “If we don’t find Katherine Uno, people will get hurt. I know better than to demand that you hand her over… I just need to know if she’s here.”

“We can do that.” 

Chad pulled out a walky-talky, passing her query along to whoever was on the other end of the line. 

They waited in silence for a few minutes before he received a response. “Yeah, she’s here. Is there anything else the agified brat wants to know?”

Chad looked back at Rachel. She shook her head.

“That’s a negative,” he said into the receiver before putting the device away. He asked, “By the way, have you seen the little squirt himself? Numbuh One seemed to be taking the situation pretty hard, last I saw him.”

“Be careful,” cautioned Rachel sarcastically, “Some people might think you actually care about him, if you keep asking questions like that.”

Chad rolled his eyes, grumbling, “All he is to me is a dangerous player. One who I hear compared to my previous position in the Kids Next Door more and more often.”

Rachel sent him a twisted smile and said, “Well then, in that case, yes. I’ve seen him. Nigel mounted an attack on Moonbase. The kid was planning to detach it and slam the thing into Grandfather.”

The teenager’s smile widened, “Gee, I wonder where the inspiration for that came from?”

“He would've thought of it anyway.” Rachel replied, knowing that Chad was thinking of the time he’d detached and launched the very same Moonbase toward the sun.

“Maybe, maybe not.”

It was Rachel’s turn to roll her eyes, saying, “Well, wherever he got the idea, clearly, it failed. My soldiers captured him, and I personally handed him over to his grandpa.” 

No point in mentioning ‘little’ details like his entire sector being freed from their agification and escaping in the process.

She watched slow, horrified realization sink into the teenager’s eyes, the note of genuine concern unmistakable among a storm of other emotions. Chad at last voiced the connection had just clicked in his head, “Of course. He’s Grandfather’s grandson...”

“Yes. And now, Grandfather has given him the powers that are their family legacy.”

Chad paled at these words and exclaimed, “What have you done?”

“I have served Grandfather, as is the ultimate goal of any citizombie,” She paused for a moment, trying to think of any other business she might have with Chad before concluding this meeting with the teen. Nothing came to mind. “Goodbye, Chad. The next time we meet, the terms will be very different.” 

“I have no doubt.” It certainly seemed like there was a little less confidence in his posture than there had been at the start of the conversation. He replied, “Well, until then…”

Rachel nodded as Chad trailed off, and with that, they turned away from each other, walking back to their respective sides. 

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The two ships made use of the smog from the tapioca factories to hide their movements as they headed toward the school. As they neared the building, Tommy pulled out his map to check where the entrance Jessica had described was located. However, when they looked down at the spot, they found that it was now under watch by several citizombies and either Grandfather himself or a duplicate.

“What now?” asked Numbuh Eighty Five.

“We’ll try to find another way in. Maybe there are more entrances inside the school. You know, besides the one that collapsed.”

“Sounds good to me.”

They circled the building, flipping the lights off on their ships and going high, relying on their familiarity with the school grounds to navigate. Eventually, they got inside by breaking through the windows of the gymnasium and landing their ships on the beams running across the ceiling. From there, they lowered themselves on the climbing nets and ropes currently set up for the gymnastics portion of the phys ed curriculum.

“Where should we start looking?”

“Apparently, The Big Badolescent collapsed a wall into the secret underground school. If we can find that, maybe there’ll be another entrance nearby.” Tommy pulled a set of walkie-talkies he’d grabbed while they were at his house from his bag and passed them out to the others in case they became separated. Then, he looked at Sonya, inquiring, “Sonya, you said you’ve gotten better about the dark?”

She nodded, answering, “A little.”

“Do you think you’d be up to walking around the school without a flashlight? I was thinking that there’s plenty of illumination from the security lights outside. It should be enough for the most part.”

“I don’t know...”

Lee asked, “What if we all stayed together?”

She looked around thoughtfully, “Maybe.”

“If it gets too dark, just let us know.”

“Okay.”

The kids considered the main entrance to the gym for a moment, but they agreed that they were more likely to avoid detection if they left through the locker room.

The small party entered the halls and moved quietly down the passageways, their path lit only by the security lights shining through the windows from outside. The beacons threw up squares of brightness in the otherwise dismal corridors.

The kids walked for a while, searching for any sign of what they were looking for. After several minutes, Paddy called out, “I found the right way.”

“How can you be sure?” Tommy asked.

Lee pointed at a hole in the wall where something had burst through - something that had left a Big Badolescent-shaped hole behind.

As the kids poked their heads through the space, Lee chuckled and said, “I’d say Numbuh Eighty Five found a solid lead. It hardly takes your brother’s detective skills to figure this one out.”

They followed the path of destruction through three classrooms and into a hallway. At the far end, they could see a wall reduced to nothing but rubble. 

“That must be the place where she got into the secret school,” said Tommy.

“Too bad they had to collapse the entrance to stop the Citizombies from getting in,” Lee remarked.

“Well, at least we know we’re close,” Sonya said, “There’s gotta be another way in close by.”

Suddenly, there was a rustling noise behind them. The kids all jumped and yelled, startled.

“Quiet!” hissed a small boy wearing a large cowboy hat on his head and carrying a pair of water guns in his belt. He stepped out of the shadows and said, “There might still be some of those confounded citizombies running around.”

“Runt?” Tommy questioned in recognition.

“The Tommy,” acknowledged the leader of the Six Gum Gang in an almost mocking tone. He commented in irritation, “Of course they’d send a Gilligan. Do you have any idea the trouble I went through to make sure your brother delivered a note on time last month?” he sighed and grumbled, “Come on. The entrance is this way.”

He led them to a girl’s bathroom, walked up to a dirty sink, and turned the knob. A length of wall slid open to reveal a dark chasm within. “There’s a ledge wide enough to walk, but be careful not to lose your balance. It’s long fall, and some of them tiles are awfully unstable.”

As the small group trailed after Runt in single file, Tommy asked, “Where’s the rest of the Six Gum Gang?”

“Didn’t make it.” The answer was quick and sharp. “I slipped through a space the others were too big for so as to do some reconnaissance and saw some kids using the opening back there.” He gestured to the now closed space from which they had entered. “I came back to get ‘em only to find they’d left the hiding spot where I’d told ‘em to wait and been citizombified. I had to leave so they wouldn’t get me too. Haven’t seen ‘em since.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Won’t matter once we get this mess fixed,” Runt replied. Only the strained way he said the last word hinted at any of the turmoil beneath his calm demeanor. Of course, Tommy supposed that Runt wouldn’t have wound up leading a group of kids bigger and older than he was if he couldn’t keep a cool head.

Tommy smiled and, hoping to cheer him a little, stated, “Yeah, and that de-aging water is really going to help.”

As the party entered a system of underground hallways, they began seeing other kids around. 

“How the heck did those A students make it? You’d think they’d be targeted just for being jerks.”

Runt responded, “You’ll have to ask Mrs. Thompson. They seem to all answer to her. They’ve even been able to slip onto the surface relatively unbothered by the adults. In all honesty, though, there’s something off about the whole thing.”

As Tommy caught sight of said fourth grade teacher, wearing a green pendant and followed very closely by her very attentive students, he found that he had to agree. The situation felt fishy. It might be something for either him or the KND to look into, once the rest of this mess was cleaned up.

Numbuh Eighty Five saw a group of soaking wet adults that included their principal. “I take it that they’re from the fight we saw a few minutes ago.”

Runt nodded. “I wish I’d been there, but the other KND kids were sure you’d try to find another way in. I was among the kids chosen to stand watch for you, on account of having certain… skills.”

“It’s a shame you usually use them for personal gain,” Paddy interjected, “I’ve read about Sector V’s encounters with you. You’re skilled with weapons and highly resourceful. Not to mention how rare it is to find a kid with the ability to keep control over others so much older than them. We could use someone like you for the soda and ice-cream smuggling rings.”

“Well, excuse me if I’m not one for the whole crazy, child military, mind wipe cult thing.”

“We’re not a cult!” Paddy exclaimed defensively.

“Actually,” Lee said, “We kind of are, when you think about it. A really old one, if the archives are right.” 

Runt nodded and added, “I don’t need a target on my back. I’ve heard stories about the kind of crud that happens to kids who join up. You have to choose code names to protect your own darn families from what you deal with. Kidnapping, torture, mind scrambling, and brainwashing are all just occupational hazards for you. Oh, and let’s not forget who was the first group Grandfather specifically targeted once he had his armies.” He shook his head adamantly, “No, I’m fine doing work for hire around the school with my crew, thank you very much.”

Numbuh Eighty Five was about to say something in response when Sonya exclaimed, “Look, there’s the others!”

And there, indeed, they were. 

As the other kids went to reunite with their team mates, Tommy hung back. He’d been thinking about the Six Gum Gang’s smuggling operation. He asked, “Hey, you guys have access to some decent supplies, don’t you? Building equipment that’s on par with some kinds of KND technology.”

Runt adjusted his hat and proudly answered, “Sure do.”

“Look, I need all the tools I can get around here so that I can help and maybe plan for later. Your stash of materials would come in handy.”

“And you want me to show you where we keep it.”

Tommy nodded.

Runt looked thoughtfully at the other boy, glancing at the group behind him for a moment and then back. “Alright, what’ll I get in return?”

“The knowledge that you helped save the school and maybe the world.”

Runt shook his head, “I need more than that. You’re asking me to distribute our entire cache of goods among not just other kids, but people of assorted ages. When all this settles down, that’ll leave my gang mighty vulnerable.” He paused a moment before adding caustically, “Or do you think that maybe everyone’s just goin’ to give our stuff back to the kids that frequently rob them out of the goodness of their hearts.”

“So you’re going to risk everyone’s lives for what might happen later?”

“I’m not doing that. I know you’ll give me what I want, because things are so bad right now. Everyone still gets their weapons. I just benefit a little more from my contribution when this thing blows over.”

Tommy sighed and asked, “Alright, what do you want?”

“We’re good at collecting the equipment and we can cobble stuff together fairly well, but I’ve seen your work. You have the knack but you lack access to the goods.” Tommy frowned, recalling how he’d occasionally seem members of the other boy’s group on occasion when he was scavenging in a nearby dump. “After this is over, you’ll set up an exclusive business venture with us. We get supplies you want, and you build and repair our gear when need be.”

“Why would you set up a deal like that?”

“Who’s to stop you from backing off your deal the moment all this is over? If you continue to benefit, you’re much more likely to keep your side of the bargain, partner. Plus, you won’t be outsourcing your work to others. Having access to a KND trained technician will give us a big edge on most competitors,” he paused for a moment before asking, “So, do we have a deal?”

Tommy considered his options. Sure, there were a few KND operative lockers around the school and undoubtedly some other storage areas that Numbuh Fourteen was probably informed of, but that was likely to be secondary equipment, since Gallagher wasn’t a base. The Six Gum Gang, on the other hand, would probably have their best equipment on site, since the majority of their work was done during school hours. They needed that stuff. Additionally, having a stable flow of supplies to work with in the future would be nice as well. It was really hard to work on major projects when he had to find everything for himself. 

But to be the one equipping the Six Gum Gang… Sure, they helped kids often enough, but they also did a lot of unpleasant business, too. Did he really want to make them more effective at the kind of shady business they did?

After debating with himself, despite his own misgivings, Tommy shook the other kid’s proffered hand.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My next goal with this story is to go back and make some corrections. If I make any changes beyond spelling and grammar, I will mention them when I post the next chapter. I will say that, if I described the movies Grandfather and Monty received as being in videotape or DVD in an earlier chapter, I will be changing that to reels for a couple reasons, one of which is the fact that they seem like something movies would change into with agification.
> 
> I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Thanks for reading.


	13. Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nigel wakes up

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I would like to thank Rioludoodle, Numbuh 777 and Numbuh 10.4 for their help in reviewing this chapter. On top of posting this Chapter, I have also updated chapters 1-5, correcting any errors I found upon rereading them. I aim to have improved versions of the rest of the chapters up within the next couple weeks.
> 
> And now, for a chapter I know that a lot of people have been waiting for…

 

**Chapter 13**

Sore. Everything felt sore.

That was Nigel's first conscious thought as he started to wake. He was lying on his back with his eyes closed, not daring to move a muscle. The bed he was tucked into didn't seem familiar. What happened? Then his memory kicked in: the recommissioning module, Numbuh Zero, the moon base, Citizombies, Grandfather. No, surely it was just a dream. Only a nightmare; a terrible figment of his imagination. He'd open his eyes and it would all be over.

To his horror, when he cracked his eyelids, he saw that his nose colored in black and red, silhouetted without any source of light to make it so.

Shoot! Don't panic, don't panic.

He fought his instinct to recoil and instead lay still, forcing himself to stay calm. He closed his eyes quickly, trying to will the sight away.

Alright, it wasn't a dream. This was really happening…so what now?

Nigel turned his focus inward.

Closely examining what he wanted to do at that very moment, Nigel was extremely relieved to find that he did not, in fact, suddenly possess the urge to go out and rain misery down on the heads of kids everywhere. He would have expected such evil thoughts to accompany these powers and a silhouette suit as part and parcel, a package deal.

In fact, his mind seemed to work the way it always had.

Of course, there was the possibility that the psychological transformation could occur more slowly. It could be a long process, a creeping, gradual thing with effects that would go unnoticed until it was far too late. He hoped not. The last thing he wanted to be when he grew up was an evil, child hating monster.

Whatever his ultimate fate was, he supposed worrying about it could wait until later. For the moment, Nigel would simply be thankful that he was still himself.

Feeling much calmer after a bout of self-reflection, he allowed himself to focus on the present. He rubbed his fingers together, expecting to feel some alien film or strange fabric om his skin. However, the silhouette suit itself did not appear to have any substantial weight or texture to it, which seemed quite peculiar now that he was hyper aware of its presence clinging to him.

He was in a bed, tucked under some sheets. Judging by the warmth and weight he felt, there must have been a quilt atop them. He could feel that with his eyes closed.

He could hear sounds from elsewhere in the building, voices. One of which was Grandfather but the other…

It was his dad.

Nigel opened his eyes again and this time he refused to let himself be deterred by shadows, even if they were perched on his nose and bounded with a type of red glow he had long learned to fear from experiences with Father. He forced himself into sitting position, his muscles aching as if he had spent the previous day as a cadet running training simulations he wasn't ready for.

The covers fell back and more of his own silhouetted form was exposed to his view. Nigel breathed in sharply through clenched teeth as he took the sight of his torso, arms and hands, despite knowing that they would all be covered in the same shadows that had so frightened him when he saw them on tip of his nose.

He turned his attention once more to the comforting cadence of his dad's voice and took a deep breath to calm himself. Then, he looked at his surroundings. He was in a bed in the corner of a dimly lit room. There was a second bed directly beside him, the two separated by a bed post with a small lamp on top of it. Judging by the antique style of all these objects, Nigel guessed that Grandfather had used his powers on the space much like he had done to the convention center.

Above this lamp there was a window with its curtains drawn to the side. Nigel looked out to gaze upon a dark, smoggy sky. Even if he wasn't nearsighted, there would not have been much to see in the murkiness beyond. It looked like the world was either just about to settle in for the night or brighten for the day. Having no idea how long he had been out, he had no way to tell which one it was.

Turning his gaze from the window to the nightstand, Nigel realized that the lamp was not the only thing occupying the space on the tabletop. Also resting on the smooth surface were his sunglasses. He immediately picked up the shades and put them on and put them on and the fuzzy edges of his world became crisp and clear. Oddly enough, it seemed to be one of the few times that the lenses made the room seem too dark, as the place had already been perfectly lit for his light sensitive eyes.

Nigel pulled back the covers the rest of the way and was met by the sight of twirling tendrils of shadows, reminiscent of Grandfather's. He reached out and grabbed one, which he held for a mere moment before it suddenly lost its physical qualities and shifted through his grip as elusively as any shadow on the wall.

Nigel looked away and forced himself to get out of the bed. He moved slowly, in respect of the exhausted sort of pain wracking his body. Toes that he could not distinguish through the silhouette covering them squished soft carpet. He appreciated the sensation of the texture for a short while before further studying the room he was in. Scrutinizing his surroundings, Nigel took notice of a dresser, a half open closet, a full length mirror and, most importantly, a door on the far wall.

Nigel paused to silently reprimand himself. As a KND operative, he had learned to always take note of all his surroundings at the first opportunity. Sure, he was tired, aching, scared and confused but that was no excuse for slipping up on something that training and experience had drilled into him so many times. Considering the circumstances, he needed to be focused now more than ever.

Nigel began to make his way toward the door. Initially, he intended to pass the mirror by, intentionally avoiding his own reflection - but he couldn't stop himself from taking a peek from the corner of his eyes. What was supposed to be a cursory glance turned into flat-out staring at the strange figure in the mirror. Hidden behind his shades, his eyes seemed red, but upon lowering his glasses, he could see their true yellow color. He noted the myriad of similarities and differences between this silhouetted figure in the mirror and those of Father and Grandfather.

For several moments, Nigel could do naught but stare at his own, terrible reflection. Then he clenched his fists and drew himself tall, as if he was staring down Father. Wait, no. That was the last person he wanted on his mind!

He glared at the figured in the mirror and began to say; "Well, Matchstick…" only to slap his hands over his mouth, horrified by the strange, warped voice that issued from his throat.

Looking at his reflection, he saw the fear in his own, glowing eyes. All attempts to distance himself from the form in the mirror fell away. That boy wrapped in the silhouette suit so reminiscent of those of the two greatest villains of the seventh age, that was him. Not someone else he could fight or flee from. Just him.

A small whimper escaped his throat, still in that lower, unfamiliar register. Suddenly, a crack formed the mirror's surface. Nigel attempted to back away from the looking glass, only to have the shadowy tendrils choose that moment to solidify again. They tripped him as the reflection he was trying to escape shattered into a thousand pieces. Shards of glass scattered across the floor to show him the horrid image he'd wanted nothing more than to flee from at a thousand new angles.

He closed his eyes at the traumatic sight and called out, "Dad!"

In moments, he heard thumping footsteps and the door swinging open. Then, he felt himself being pulled into the embrace of an adult he knew very well. "I'm right here, Old Bean. It's going to be okay."

Nigel wrapped his arms around his dad and finally let himself cry. There was a maelstrom of emotions behind those tears. In the past day, he had been through so much. Father had used him to unleash the horrific evil that was Grandfather. In the only purely positive experience he could recall in the last twenty-four hours, he had found out that Numbuh Zero and Monty Uno were one and the same. And then, to ruin that for him, there had come the revelation that Father was his uncle and Grandfather, his grandfather. He had discovered that the Delightful Children were Sector Z and failed to retake the moon base with them. He had freed his friends and teammates from Grandfather's control only to be separated from them and captured by Citizombies. And finally, for a grand finally to the worst day of his life, he'd been handed over to Grandfather, who had promptly welcomed him into the family by activating latent powers he was terrified of.

Nigel began to calm down as his dad whispered to him. He wasn't really taking in the words he stated themselves so much as their comforting tones and the feeling of safety and warmth that came with them. He couldn't help but be reminded of when he had woken up in hospital after the incident that had cost him his hair and almost his life. His dad had been the first thing he saw when he woke up, and had behaved almost exactly as he was now.

Much calmer now as he was held in his dad's arms, Nigel felt the shadows fall away from him as he calmed in his dad's grip. The sight of his own pale hands and the red sleeves of his sweater had never been such a relief.

Eventually, Nigel pulled away from his dad's embrace to look up into the man's eyes and he saw that the great Numbuh Zero had been crying, too.

Nigel sniffled, "I'm sorry. I tried. I did everything I could. Really, I…"

"Hey now, you have nothing to apologize for. I know you tried your hardest. That's all that really matters, Nigel, dear boy." Monty Uno smiled at him lovingly.

Despite how much his chest hurt with anguish, Nigel found himself soon wearing a smile mirroring his dad's and even a small chuckle escaping his throat. He might now have powers like his uncle and his grandfather, but he was still his father's son.

Monty gave Nigel a comforting pat on the back as the boy pulled away.

Nigel started to use his sleeve to wipe his face dry. When the child glanced at his dad to see a brow raised in mild disapproval, he stated, "Dad, after all the stuff that's happened to this shirt, I doubt some tears and snot are going to do much more damage."

"Probably not," Monty acquiesced as his son proceeded to use said sleeve to wipe off his face. "And now, I think you'd better come with me. I'm surprise that your Grandpappy was able to wait even this long and let me have a moment alone with you. If we don't go out, he'll come bursting in here. In fact," Nigel watched his dad turn toward the doorway and ask, "Pappy? Are you standing right in the hallway?"

"Of course I am." Grandfather's head popped into view around the door frame and the ancient being snapped, "You didn't actually expect me to wait downstairs, did you." With that, he slithered his floating form through the doorway like a gaunt serpent before standing upright, his head nearing the ceiling and his feet still a few inches above the ground. He smiled at Nigel and asked, "And how did you sleep?"

Glaring at him angrily, Nigel responded, "I hardly see why how it's any concern of yours." Suddenly, the boy heard his dad softly grunt as the steady, comforting grip on his shoulder disappeared. "Dad? What happened? Are you okay?"

"I'm fine." The man responded too quickly, with a forced calm that raised fright in Nigel's mind.

Grandfather emotionlessly stated, "You burned him."

"What?!" Exclaimed Nigel, shocked.

"Pappy!" Monty shouted furiously even as his face paled.

"I'd never do anything to hurt him." Nigel retorted indignantly, only to be startled as a flickering, ephemeral layer of orange flames began hovering over his skin before dissipating just as quickly as it appeared. Nigel recoiled in shock before turning back to his dad, only to find that the man had his hands tucked behind his back, completely hidden from his son's line of sight.

"Of course you wouldn't," said Grandfather from behind him. "Not on purpose, at least. But you're new to your powers and it takes practice to learn to control them."

Nigel reached out for his dad's hand and timidly asked, "Did I?"

"Nigel, I'm alright. Really."

"Then show him your hand, Monty. And if not, show him anyway. The sooner he learns the better."

Monty turned an angry glare at his own father until Nigel begged, "Show me, Dad. Please."

The man looked at his son in clear anguish and slowly presented his hand to his son's grasping fingers. The damage wasn't terrible. The skin on his fingers and the base of his thumb was red and would almost certainly blister but it would probably clear up quickly. Still Nigel let go and looked away, feeling a tear of shame roll down his face. The first person to be hurt by his powers was his own dad.

"Nigel, it was an accident."

"That doesn't change the fact that I still did it."

Monty looked up at Grandfather's tall form and angrily insisted, "You shouldn't have said anything, Pappy."

"He needs to see what he's capable of before he's powerful enough to do real damage. Don't worry," declared Grandfather haughtily, almost victoriously, "He'll learn to control it. I'll teach him."

Fueled by disbelief and sheer outrage, Nigel spun around to face his grandfather and exclaimed, "Teach me?" Then he clenched his fists and yelled, "I don't want anything to do with you. You're the one who did this to me!"

Unrepentant, Grandfather replied, "Yes, I did and better that I did it for you rather than leave you to wait for it to happen during an emotional outburst."

"I didn't want this…this…at all!" As Nigel shouted, his silhouette suit reformed from the pool of shadows around his own feet. He cast a cautious glance at his dad to make sure he hadn't accidentally hurt him again before returning his attention to Grandfather.

"Well that's too bad, because you have them now." The old man stated blandly, quickly becoming annoyed with the child.

Nigel glowered at him with hatred in his eyes. That was when he got his next big shock. A weak burst of fire shot from his marrow glare directly at Grandfather, It covered a third of the distance between the two of them before completely fizzling out. The boy jumped back and would have fallen over again if Grandfather hadn't reached down and pulled him back to a standing position.

The old man studied him for a moment before announcing, "Well Monty, I'm glad you convinced me not to crush his sunglasses, now. I like the red glow they give his eyes."

"That's enough, Pappy."

With the warning evident in his voice, Grandfather growled "I'll decide when enough is enough."

"Why?" Nigel asked, the distress in his warped voice cutting off the building confrontation between his older relatives.

Grandfather answered harshly, "Because it is your heritage, your birthright and your destiny," his tone became gentler as he added, "Give it some time, boy. You'll come to like them soon enough. You'll see."

"In the first few minutes since I've woken up with these powers, I've broken a mirror, burned my dad and shot flames at you. I've watched you and Father use these same powers to do the most horrid things. I see nothing redeeming about them…And don't you dare use baking. No amount of cake could ever possibly make this okay."

"Monty told me that you didn't even know about being a part of this family until yesterday." With that, he shot an accusatory glare at said adult as if charging him guilty of child neglect. Returning his attention to Nigel, he continued. "I'm sorry that your only experience thus far is that of being on the receiving end of attacks. There's more to this than that, I promise."

"You'll have to excuse me if I seem more than a little skeptical." Nigel responded bitterly.

Grandfather was about to snap at the boy when Monty interrupted, "Pappy, I think this conversation can wait. Nigel has been through enough for now and I think what he needs is a bath, some food and probably more rest. Certainly not a lecture, no matter how important it may be."

Grandfather considered Nigel's tired, bedraggled appearance and decided that Monty's decision was probably for the best. "Later then."

"Heck," Monty pointed out, "if you want to make a point about good uses for powers, you could start by using them to get the food and make breakfast, eh?"

Grandfather looked at Nigel thoughtfully and agreed, "Fine, but first…" he glided over to the spot on the floor in front of the mirror frame where most of the glass shards had landed. He summoned a flame, its light reflecting off the fragments so that they were easily visible in the otherwise dim room.

The largest shards floated up into the air before shooting off into a dust bin tucked behind the bed, a small, unlined bronze thing that Nigel failed to notice. The many smaller pieces of glass continued to rise up from the carpet until there was nothing to reflect the fire light. At that point, Grandfather stopped focusing on the flame and it ceased to exist. The room seemed considerably darker afterward.

"A pity, I'll have to replace that mirror at some point." He glanced at Nigel and asked, "Did you break it physically or was it your powers?"

Nigel's silence seemed to be answer enough for the old man, who said, "impressive, hardly had them for a few hours and you can already…"

"Dad…" interrupted Monty, annoyed.

"Fine, fine. I'm going."

Grandfather flew past the two, out the door.

"Breakfast should keep him occupied for a while," Monty sighed, relived to have resolved the situation, at for the moment.

"Does he really plan to just…. insert himself into my life like this?" Nigel asked, hoping for any answer but the obvious.

"It could be much worse, old bean." Monty replied tiredly.

Clearly, Nigel had heard something catch in his voice that spoke if truth in those words of consolation. "Could it?"

"Let's just say, there are reasons Pappy turned out the way he is, and his Gran Gram's… approach when she awakened his powers is one of the biggest."

Nigel looked down the hallway where the old man had disappeared, "his grandmother did to him what he did to me?"

Though the boy's expression was hardly visible under the silhouette suit, his yellow eyes seemed to waver like candlelight in the breeze.

Monty nodded, "And then hid him away from the world for a year. No contact with anyone else, including his own parents. She let him see one of them but he had to choose which one he wanted to see the most."

"That's horrible."

"That's how our family often does things. Generation after generation, I've found hints of stories like that, over and over again. Pappy probably thinks he's being an excellent grandparent by comparison, simply by letting me be here and trying to get your mom for you, too."

"And no one's stood up and said enough?" Nigel exclaimed in disgust.

He startled backward when steam blew out of his ears in a short, shrill whistle. The boy froze, scared of his own body doing something else unexpected.

"I did, even after I forgot the truth of our lineage." Monty said.

The man barely reacted to the eruption of steam. It was as if he was used to it. And of course, he was. He had grown up under Grandfather's roof, after all and at some point he had to have dealt with his little brother's powers as well.

The lack of reaction on his father's part helped Nigel calm down again. After collecting himself, he nodded thoughtfully. "I won't let it fall back to that. I promise."

"I know you'll do everything in your power to keep it from happening," his dad said.

Monty knew Nigel would try but he wasn't sure he could.

Nigel was about to say something to reassure him but Monty interrupted his son by clapping his good hand gently across the boy's shoulder despite the possible risk to himself, and said, "But let's not focus on such things right now, eh? As I said, this isn't the time for such conversations. The bathroom is the door directly across from the stairs. We ought to have some of the old clothes up in the attic. They're bound to be a bit worse for wear but they'll be cleaner than what you've got on right now. I'll have some out for you by the time you get done with a shower."

"There's soap in there already?"

"Oh yes. It's actually been there since I was ten. Pappy's powers make everything in this house like new again - err, well, not exactly new; mint condition's more like. In all honesty, the place ought to have been condemned. We'd probably have fallen through the floor by now if it weren't for Pappy. But off you go now. Get yourself clean, son."

Nigel looked around the room with new eyes before he started down the hallway. He tread lightly as he walked toward the bathroom, half-expecting the magic supporting the floor to vanish at any moment.

Within a minute of the door closing, Monty heard the sound of the shower being turned on.

Monty shook his head as he thought about the mess he and Nigel now occupied. He would have to figure some way to fix things but for now, he was stuck. Nigel was clearly in no shape, physically or emotionally, to be doing much of anything. Although being Nigel, the boy would push himself to the limit trying.

'Oh well, best not get ahead of myself,' he thought, 'We'll just work through this one step at a time.'

And the first step was to take care of his son while the boy got back up to snuff. With that goal in mind, he leapt to the task of finding a box of old clothes that would hopefully fit Nigel.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed this chapter and that it was worth the wait. I've been playing around with how I wanted to do this one since when I first wrote chapter 5. This chapter's structure has changed so many times, it's not even funny. I didn't expect it to take this long to bring Nigel back in but now he is back.
> 
> I also have a general idea of how I want the rest of this story to go and have several partial chapters written up based on my plans.
> 
> Unfortunately, I do not know when the next chapter will be up. I am getting a new job this summer that will keep me extremely busy and I don't foresee myself having much time to work on Fan Fiction. I also might have a fall position lined up that will keep me just as busy. So, for now, although I eventually plan on coming back to this story someday, it is once again on hiatus. You will see me updating stiff on other Fandoms if you follow me, but it is all material that I have had built up for a while and am just releasing over the course of the summer. I will try to get back to writing this story again as soon as possible.


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